Harry Potter and the Siege
by Yoda
Summary: [Book V AU:] Voldemort holds the castle, Harry and Dumbledore are back with three new friends could hold the key to salvation, and the final battle has begun....WORK IN PROGRESS
1. Parts 1 - 3

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, his friends, enemies and all respective items and characters (beasts or beings) from the novels and novellas of J. K. Rowling are hers by moral right and legal copyright. All new creations are my own fictions by moral right.

****

Chapter 1: The Summer Again

Harry Potter lent back in his bed and looked ahead in time. Tomorrow he would be back at the Burrow, with Ron and his family, then he would be home…Hogwarts. He could hardly believe six weeks had passed since the end of his fourth year, sine Voldemort rose again, since…since a new friend had gone. Harry felt icy guilt within, Cedric Diggory, a fellow student and champion of Hogwarts, had been killed by Voldemort, by Peter Pettigrew, by Harry…

The trap had been for him, instead he and Cedric were caught, but Cedric had paid the price. Tears threatened to brim over and Harry's throat burned, he had also see the two innocent lives taken from him as a young baby. His father and mother had appeared as shadows during that night; they had saved his life again.

Apart from his wand, Harry had no protection against Voldemort; his scar had faded soon after leaving Hogwarts for the Dursleys. Voldemort had taken Harry's blood, his mother's protection was gone with it. Wiping his eyes clear, Harry sat upright in his bed, he couldn't sleep now.

Reaching under his mattress, he pulled out his photo album, a present from Hagrid after his first year at school. Turning the familiar pages, he came to his favourite, one of Lily and James, his parents, with Sirius, his godfather, a wizard who had taken Pettigrew's blame and spent time in Azkaban.

THUD!

Harry looked up to see a stunned Pigwidgeon reeling on his bedroom's windowsill. 

Quickly he scooped in Ron's owl and removed the message from his leg. With a wobbly hop and skip 'Pig' landed in Hedwig's empty cage and promptly fell peacefully into the food bowl.

Listening to the muffled chirping of Pig's snores, he really did sound like one in the food, Harry opened Ron's letter:

__

Hi Harry,

I'm really looking forward to seeing you next week, although by the time Pig reaches you, it probably will be next week, he's still a hyperactive little git! Anyway I'm writing cos I've got some excellent news! Dad's no longer in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, he's now assistant director of the Department for International Magical Co-operation!

With all the extra he got, me and Ginny went to Rumania to see Charlie, plus Dad got an official Ministry car – we'll be picking you up in it! There is of course one spectacular bonus – Percy now works for Dad, it's driving him berserk, he keeps coming home without work!

Anyway, we're going straight to London from the Muggles' house, we got rooms from Tom at the Leaky Cauldron – speaking of them, Percy's standard thickness law was introduced last week, watch out, his inflated head is overbalancing his body!

See you about 10 on Tuesday morning!

Bye – Ron

Harry looked up a his clock, it was just after midnight, in ten hours he would leave the Dursley's for another blissful school year. Drowsily he closed Pig into Hedwig's cage, he'd give him to Ron tomorrow. Hedwig would be in London or at Hogwarts, he only sent her to Sirius yesterday. Peacefully, Harry dropped into a deep slumber, still holding his smiling parents beneath his fingers.

****

Chapter 2: A Narrow Escape

Harry woke at seven and threw open the curtains, August 30th, his last day of summer was a glorious one. He threw his clothes on, washed, and packed everything into his trunk; books, work, his Firebolt, the album and his birthday presents. This year he'd gained his own copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_ from Ron, a Chudley Cannons jumper from the rest of the Weasleys, a new set of gobstones from Hermione, a book on dragons from Hagrid, and a shiny 'P' badge from Dumbledore…Harry was a Prefect!

Of course there wasn't much Harry didn't know about being a Prefect. Control of house passwords, a later curfew, the common room, and the bathroom. Then there were the new benefits; exclusion from the Underage Wizardry Act and authority to deduct points from all houses, not just his own, Gryffindor. Harry checked his watch, only seven-thirty! He was ready to go now, how could only half an hour have gone? Sighing he went down to the kitchen to see that Dudley was already there. Dudley was no longer the mass of a small whale, he wasn't even as heavy as Uncle Vernon.

Over the past year, Aunt Petunia's diet had had a profound effect, Dudley was now built like Harry, except slightly taller and with broader shoulders. However with his size gone, so had his power; Piers Polkiss had taken over his gang, Dudley had been rejected. 'Morning Harry,' he said, 'want some breakfast?' His new attitude was another noticeable change, it seemed he suddenly realised the benefits of a magical cousin. Over summer, he and Harry, had become good friends, they played computer games and gobstones, went into town and the cinema. Then Aunt Petunia walked into the kitchen.

'Hello Dudley, erm, go-good morning Harry' she said with a nervous smile. With Dudley, her object of affection liking Harry, she had forced herself to, but now she was softening, especially when the dishes washed themselves. Harry smiled in acknowledgement, toast hanging out his mouth, and put the kettle on while Dudley served up three plates. 'What time are you being picked up Harry?'

'The Weasleys should be here about ten Aunt Petunia.'

'I should take out the fireplace now then' she commented, remembering Mr. Weasley's ballistic approach from the year before.

'it's okay, they'll be coming in a Ministry car this year, Ron's dad was promoted.' He poured the tea and the three began to eat the hearty cooked breakfast. 'I've already packed so there won't be any delay in leaving, that'll please Uncle Vernon.'

'So Harry, what happens this year at Hogwarts instead of GCSEs?' asked Dudley. 'I hope you get a challenge.'

'It will be!' replied Harry. 'It's the Ordinary Wizarding Levels, we call them O. W. L. S. Aunt P., and I missed last year because of the Tri…' he stopped abruptly. Dudley became interested in his sauce and Aunt Petunia reached over to hold Harry's hand.

'It's gone now Harry, the past is the past.' She said quietly. 'You can't bring back your friend, but you can always remember him.' She got up and poured more tea, 'Drink up now, then you and Dudley can wash up.' She smiled softly and went out to the garden leaving the boys to drink and clean.

As they were washing, the boys heard the familiar footsteps, pounding the stairs, as Vernon Dursley came down them. 'Morning Dudders!' He roared. 'Get away from those dishes, HE can finish them.' Unfortunately for Harry, Uncle Vernon was still his usual self, except now he loathed Harry after his fireplace had blown up the year before, and his son's tongue had grown four feet long and purple. 'When are those 'Weasels' turning up boy? They can't come in mind, not after last year.'

'The Weasleys will be here at ten.'

'GOOD! The sooner you're gone, the sooner we can have normality in this house!' he roared with laughter at his joke. Harry finished the dishes and left, his uncle's laughter booming out of the kitchen behind him. He went upstairs to his room, and shortly afterwards Dudley arrived.

'I guess Dad will never open up – I'm sorry.' Harry shrugged it off.

'I'm not bothered, at least I know he's not my real family, not like you or your mum.' He smiled. 'Want a game of exploding snap? There's still an hour 'til I need to pack up everything.' Dudley agreed, and soon both boys had smudged cheeks from the blasts. 'Oh god,' said Harry, 'I remember Ron built a pyramid last year, it blew up and singed off his eyebrows!' Dudley whooped out loud with laughter.

'I wish I could meet your friends, or see your school, it must be fantastic; ghosts, passages, and the holiday feasts – wow!'

'One day perhaps, who knows? Whoa is that the time, they'll be here in five minutes!' quickly Dudley and Harry threw items into his trunk, most went in, but most noticeably a pair of socks missed and _clattered_ onto the floor.

'Huh, why do wizard socks clatter Harry?'

Harry unrolled them, revealing his pocket sneakoscope that he'd got from Ron. 'Wow, I thought I'd lost this – help me pack and I'll explain it in a minute.' They put in the rest of Harry's stuff and lugged the trunk downstairs, Hedwig's cage balanced on top with a snoozing Pigwidgeon inside. 'Phew, it always seems to get heavier! Anyway, the sneakoscope is like an advanced burglar alarm, it lights up, spins, and sounds if someone acts in the wrong manner near it. Here take the paper and try to hit me when I turn round, do it when you think I can't tell, take a swipe at my head OK.' Harry turned and almost immediately ducked when he heard a trilling whirr.

'Wow Harry,' said Dudley, 'that's better than any of our burglar alarms!' However the sneakoscope kept going.

'Not again, it does this all the time, it never stopped in the third year.' As Harry grabbed the spinning sneakoscope, the doorbell rang.

'RIGHT' boomed Uncle Vernon, 'I'LL ANSWER THE DOOR BOY AND YOU GET YOUR STUFF AND GET LOST!' He tramped past Harry as the doorbell rang again. 'AND TURN THAT BLOODY THING OFF.' He jabbed at the sneakoscope as he opened the door and swung it open, 'THE BOY'S COMING, JUST WAIT A SECOND' he turned back to Harry. 'OH, SHOWING YOUR TRUE COLOURS AGAIN ARE YOU.' Harry looked astounded, _his true colours?_

'Harry,' exclaimed Dudley, 'your scars back! And it's green!' Then the Death Eater walked in, wand raised at Uncle Vernon's back.

'MOVE!' Harry shoved his uncle aside, whipping his wand out of his jeans. '_Expelliarmus'_ he cried and shot the other wizard who cursed as his wand went flying. Instead he tried to grapple away Harry's wand, but was greeted with a solid punch from Dudley. 'Are you okay Uncle Vernon? Did he get you?' His uncle just mouthed wordlessly, pointing at the fallen Death Eater.

'AIIEEE' Harry heard a scream as his aunt ran in from the garden. Then another wizard in Death Eater robes stalked into the house

'_Avada Ke–'_

'_Accio door!'_ cried Harry, and the back door slammed into the dark wizard before the lethal curse was released, he stumbled forward, and this time Uncle Vernon released a mighty blow that sent the wizard through the kitchen window. In the distance, Harry saw another Death Eater walk through the hedge. 'Quick, into the living room, before they recover.' Herding in his relatives, Harry ducked as a spell slammed into the wall behind him. Inside the room he turned around, facing the empty doorway, waiting for the Death Eaters to enter.

'Harry, who were those people?' asked Aunt Petunia.

'Death Eaters, they work for the wizard who killed Mum and Dad, and Cedric, and other wizards and Muggles.' Just then the trio of Death Eaters rushed in. 'GET DOWN' Harry shouted and his relatives ducked behind the furniture. _'Impedimenta'_ he cried, freezing the first Death Eater, then he threw himself behind the couch as the other two shot red beams at him. 

Then with a crash the window caved in as two spells punched through from outside. Rising to the new threat, Harry raised his wand to jinx the wizards, only to see Ron and his father, Arthur Weasley. Behind him he heard a groan as the two death eaters collapsed. 'Ron, you're on time'

'Hi Harry, lets go!'

'What about the Dursleys?'

'You'll have to bring them' said Mr. Weasley. 'Percy's waiting with the car, hurry before any more Death Eaters arrive.' Gathering his relatives, Harry led them with Ron to the car, while Mr. Weasley kept his wand trained on the house, when everyone was in, Percy accelerated the car away.

****

Chapter 3: News from the Weasleys

Breathing heavily, Harry took in the back of the Ministry car, unsurprisingly to him it was size of a super-stretch limousine. He sat on a seat, watching Mrs. Weasley fussing over a shaking Aunt Petunia, the Weasley twins were talking to Dudley, and Uncle Vernon was slumped with his head in his hands while Mr. Weasley spoke to him.

'Hello, Ron to Harry!'

'Wha…oh, yeah, hi…'

'Hi? C'mon, we just saved your skin! Could we possibly have a hello?' Ron's mock tirade became muffled as Harry enfolded him in a hug. 'Gerrof, gerrof! No hugs, please!'

'Hello Har–' Ginny Weasley was cut off as she fell victim to a hug. 'Nice to see you too.' Ginny was in her third year at Hogwarts, 'I finally returned the favour huh?' She was referring to her almost death at a young Tom Riddle in her first year at Hogwarts.

'How did you know?'

'About the Death Eaters?' said Ron. 'Well your house kind of put up a mark, y'know like a lightning bolt. Hey, your scars back!'

'Yeah it happened when they arrived, I guess it still is an early warning system. By the way, that sneakoscope really works, in year three it was detecting Wormtail, and it went off when the Death Eaters arrived as well.' Ron nodded in silent agreement, then turned to Harry's family being attended by the rest of his own.

Dudley was now sat grinning, illustrating his roundhouse to Fred. Uncle Vernon was now in discussion with Mr. Weasley, both wearing serious faces, it was amazing how quickly he'd overcome his prejudice. Mrs. Weasley was pouring Aunt Petunia a sherry, and George was rummaging in the fridge. 'Here Harry, have one of these cakes' George threw it from the fridge. Harry took a bite from the cake, it was so…creamy.

SQUAWK!

The big yellow canary where Harry had been gave George a murderous stare, then with a WHOOSH Harry reappeared in a cascade of yellow feathers. Uncle Vernon gave a short 'HA' and then everyone was started. Over the cacophony of laughter Harry spoke to George, 'Canary Creams still on the go then guys.' Fred and Dudley had collapsed on each other laughing while Mr. Weasley and Uncle Vernon pounded their seats appreciatively. Mrs. Weasley and Aunt Petunia were both giggling five minutes later, although Harry thought this could be more to do with the drink they'd consumed.

'Harry, come here for a second' said Mr. Weasley. 'Your uncle and I need a word.' Harry left Ron and Ginny to go to Mr. Weasley and Uncle Vernon.

'What's up?'

'We've been talking, firstly we're all going to Diagon Alley, Percy sent his head to Tom earlier. Secondly your family is moving in with us from now on, I'll order two new floors later. Finally, if Dumbledore allows it, Dudley will go to Hogwarts with you, we'll get a Muggle Studies tutor to help him with his work.'

'Excellent'

'That's the news, now we need to talk about what happened, would you excuse us Vernon?'

'Yes, I might just try something from your minibar…and Harry, I-I'm sorry how I've been, you saved my family…, thankyou.' Fifteen years of shame seemed to slide off him as he smiled warmly at Harry.

'Well done, now Harry, tell me exactly what happened..' as Harry related everything to Mr. Weasley the car drove onwards until:

__

We're in London everyone' Percy's voice came over the intercom. _'I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron in five minutes.'_ At this point the Dursleys looked out to see how this would happen, and were amazed when the wizard car seemed to slip and slide through the traffic, never hitting a red light. As Uncle Vernon and Dudley continued to gawp, Aunt Petunia came over to Harry.

'Could I borrow my nephew? Thankyou.' She steered Harry to a side seat. 'I was wondering dear, are we going to meet your godfather?'

'I suppose he could be around, he's still not been cleared by the Ministry of Magic yet.'

'It's just, he won't really turn us into bats after all that's gone wrong, you know, you living with us before…' Aunt Petunia looked so concerned Harry gave her a massive hug.

'I'm sure he won't Aunt Petunia, I wrote him already saying I was much happier the other day, besides he'd only turn you into rats!' Harry ducked her swipe and ran away as she laughed to herself. George and Fred were now watching the Muggle news with Ginny, so Harry went over to Ron and Dudley.

'Hey guys, what's going on?'

'Just catching up' said Ron 'Dudley's only ever run away from me before!' They all laughed remembering the meeting last year, when Dudley had feared the growth of a new tail.

'Guess what, your dad says Dudley could come to Hogwarts this year.'

'Excellent!' said Ron and Dudley in unison. 'Hey, do you think we've got a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher yet?' Ron continued.

'Is this the one who only lasts a year?' asked Dudley.

'Yeah,' said Harry, 'We keep wearing them out! We've had Quirrel, Lupin…, Moody and Lockhart.'

'But only Lupin and Moody taught us anything.' Ron interjected.

'And Moody was really Crouch…' Harry stuttered as the previous year snuck up on him, he remembered his confrontation with the Dark Wizard after escaping Voldemort.

'Dammit,' Ron swore, 'Sorry Harry I wasn't thinking.' He quickly explained the final events of the previous year, Dudley only vaguely knew what had happened, that Harry's friend had died.

'So Crouch was one of Voldemort's men?' asked Dudley. Ron flinched at the name, he would never be used to it, so just nodded in affirmation. 'Wow, I could never imagine it before, you guys must have gone through hell.' Harry slowly nodded, remembering clearly the year before, the Triwizard Tournament, his stupid fight with Ron, Voldemort's rise and Cedric's death.

__

'We're here' Percy's voice sounded again _'Dad, Minister Fudge is there too…'_ Everyone exited the limousine and Mr. Weasley introduced Fudge to the Dursleys before going to talk out of the way. Meanwhile everyone else removed the luggage from the boot, which was an impressive twelve feet by twelve feet square. 'Right let's go in then,' said Percy, 'Here Ginny, let me help you.'

Harry was nudged by Uncle Vernon as he and Dudley lifted his trunk. 'Erm…where's the pub Harry? I see a record store and a book shop.'

'Try looking in between them,' Harry said, and was rewarded by a round of gasps from the Dursleys as the Leaky Cauldron leapt out at them.

'Whoa' Dudley whispered as everyone moved inside the doors.

***

On entering Harry noticed that the pub was mostly deserted, normally it would be bustling, in fact there were only five other people there. Tom, the pub owner, gave Harry a little wave and then disappeared beneath the bar to get drinks for a gesturing Cornelius Fudge. From one booth the giant form of Hagrid emerged, grinning at Harry and causing Uncle Vernon to step backwards. 'Harry, how yeh doin'?' Then to Harry's delight and Uncle Vernon's shock, Hagrid grasped and warmly shook his hand. 'Hello Dursley, I hear yeh punched out a Death Eater, good on yeh…'

Harry's hearing was then interrupted by Hermione Granger as she ran from the second booth and enfolded him in a colossal hug. 'Harry,' she cried, 'We were so worried when we heard.' In the background Mr. and Mrs. Granger waved sheepishly at Harry, he suspected they had just slightly more of an inkling then his own family about what was happening. 'Hey!' Hermione interrupted his thoughts again. 'Your scars back!' and so as Harry explained everything to Hermione, everyone split into groups. Minister of Magic Fudge, Mr. Weasley and Percy went to a booth, the Grangers and Harry's uncle and aunt went with Hagrid to two tables, one for him, and one for them. Ginny, Fred and George disappeared upstairs with their trunks leaving Harry, Ron, Dudley and Hermione with a booth to themselves.

'Wow!' said Hermione for what seemed like the third time in five minutes. 'You've changed since last letter!' Dudley looked up to see that it was him, and gave a suitably puzzled look. 'That's the only way I know you,' Hermione explained, 'from Harry's summer letters.' After this Ron pulled out a sack of gobstones and the four began to play. Soon only Hermione and Dudley (who had an uncanny skill at marbles as well) were the only ones left unspattered by the inky liquid until SPLAAT! Hermione's face turned green. 'Bleeurgh!' as Ron and Harry laughed she pointed her wand at her face: _'Scrubbo!_' with a quick flash it became ink free.

'Hey, you'll get warned for that!' Ron cried.

'Oh will I, and what pray then is this…' pulling out her purse, Hermione displayed a silver 'P'. 'Gotta love these new rules.'

'I agree,' said Harry, '_Scrubbo'_

'Me too! _Scubo!_' instead of becoming clear, Ron's face was encompassed by frothy bubbles of green. 'Blast, forgot the 'r', _Scrubbo!_' This time his face was cleaned off.

'Cool' said Dudley, 'You're all Prefects, but I thought there was only two in a house Harry?

'New rule Dudley,' Ron explained, 'Each house now gets four Prefects from the fifth year.'

'Who is number four then' asked Harry.

'Probably Lavender' Ron muttered gloomily. 'Or Parvati.' Harry was amused that Ron still remembered the Triwizard ball. Then Hermione threw a curve ball into the conversation:

'It could be Viktor'

'What! How?' Ron and Harry blurted.

'Is he the bloke from Dumstrong' asked Dudley.

'Durmstrang actually,' Hermione replied over Ron's sniggering, 'and yes Viktor is from there, he joined Hogwarts, in Gryffindor actually, he wrote me all summer.'

'Is that why I didn't get a letter?' Harry simpered cheekily, before bursting into laughter. But before a flushed faced Hermione could respond-

'Ladies and Gentlemen,' Tom bellowed, 'Luncheon is served', then he laughed out loud at his posh composition. Harry checked his watch, only twelve o'clock, it seemed like dinner, but only two hours had passed since he'd left the Dursleys. Good job though, he still had to do some shopping in Diagon Alley, still, _first things first_ 'Roast Lamb Dinner' he said to his plate, then tucked in as the delicious meal appeared.

Halfway through, Uncle Vernon nudged Harry 'I spoke with Minister Fudge, they've been to the house, and they brought out our belongings, well the non-electric ones at least. He said they're making the house disappear, he called it unplote…unplottable or something, only we will know where it is and so those Death Eaters can't find us now. Anyway, are we going shopping this afternoon, I want to buy Dudley some wizard clothes so he can fit in more easily at your school.

Soon after everyone finished and they all drifted to the courtyard at the back of the pub. 'Just wait until you see this Vernon, it's an ingenious idea' said Mr. Granger. Taking his wand out, Mr. Weasley tapped the brick three up and two across from the dustbin. The brick grew a small hole and slowly opened into the doorway to the cobbled streets so familiar to Harry, winking at Hagrid, he uttered the same words to his family for the first time:

'Welcome to Diagon Alley.'


	2. Parts 4 - 6

****

Chapter 4: An Unfortunate Meeting

'Wow' breathed Dudley, 'it's more fantastic than I ever imagined.' The Dursleys stood, taking in the sights; wizards were everywhere, in robes or Muggle clothing, and the shops, so many name leapt out at them: _Flourish and Blotts, Quality Quidditch Supplies, Ollivanders, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions._ 'There's so many, where to first Harry?'

'You'll probably want to change your Muggle money' Harry said, more to Uncle Vernon than Dudley. 'We'll go to Gringotts.' They made arrangements to meet everyone else back at the Leaky Cauldron for dinner. 'I'll see you there,' said Harry to the Weasleys and Grangers, 'now, on to Gringotts.' As they approached the snowy white building with its bulky doors Uncle Vernon gave an impressive gasp, as they entered he delivered a more impressed nod o approval at the rhyme. 'Now, lets find a free goblin' said Harry.

'Goblin!?!' Aunt Petunia did a double take and noticed the small guards were in fact goblins, the nearest one gave a crooked smile and saluted, 'Oh my!' Grinning, Harry took the Dursleys to a counter, where a bespectacled goblin was engrossed in an accounts book.

'Why hello Mr. Potter, come to downsize our bank again have you? And who are your friends.' Harry introduced the Dursleys and explained their needs. 'Ah, I do so enjoy Muggle accounts, this will be the five hundredth I've initiated. Piketip! Will you take these kind people to their vault.'

As a less dignified Piketip approached, Harry turned to his family; 'How do you feel about rollercoasters…?'

***

'AAARRRRGGGGHHHH'

'Woooooohooooooooeeeeeee!'

'HolyMaryMotherofGod!'

'You told me you liked them' Harry said.

'Slow it down! Slow it down!' cried Uncle Vernon.

Putting on a husky voice, Harry imitated Griphook from his first ever ride; 'one speed only, heeheeheee.'

'Are we nearly there?' asked a green Aunt Petunia.

'Yeah, your vault has been opened beside mine.'

'We get a whole vault!' said Uncle Vernon.

SCCCCCRRRREEEEEEECCCCCHHHHHHHHH!

Piketip wrestled the cart to a stop, his passengers queasily disembarked, then with a squealing of metal he roared off again. Taking their key, Harry and the Dursleys went to their vault. Harry opened the door and a bellow of smoke came out, inside was a vault similar to Harry's; heaps of gold, silver and bronze coins were spread across the floor.

'These are Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.' Harry explained. 'One Galleon is seventeen Sickles, and one Sickle is twenty-nine Knuts. Hmm…if this is just your loose change you should do well.'

'It was only £750!' exclaimed Uncle Vernon.

'In that case, I guess I've lasted four years at school on just £100.' said Harry. As he helped Uncle Vernon sort out enough money into a sack, Harry told his family about his parents' savings and inheritance. After they got their money Harry opened his vault to reveal a smaller but similar sight. He quickly scooped up his school funds, but missed the small exchange that passed between the Dursleys behind his back, stifling a giggle, they and Harry went back to the cart track. 'There should be a cart by soon.'

'Harry,' asked Uncle Vernon, 'Can we put money from our bank here as well?'

'Oh yeah, just transfer it, the goblins have found using computers sometimes helps, as that goblin said, he's opened five hundred accounts for Muggle families of wizards, lots of them prefer to bank here.'

'How do they access it from outside of Diagon Alley?'

'I dunno, I supposed you get a card or something, I think you can just use a cashcard machine.'

'Good, well I'll move our money here I think, it also means I can put fifteen years worth of pocket money in your vault.' At this announcement Uncle Vernon grinned widely while Dudley and Aunt Petunia chortled at Harry's impression of a fish.

'Erm…thanks?!' he spluttered weakly. The Dursleys were still all in hysterics by the time the doors opened and they re-entered Diagon Alley. 'Okay, I have to go shopping now, you can wander around and get Dudley's robes, he'll need the same size as me, try Madam Malkin's, she's got my size from last year.'

'I'll stay with Harry,' said Dudley, 'Can you buy my clothes for me?'

'Sure, here's some money, show him the sights Harry.'

'Brilliant, we'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron for dinner then, come on Dudley, I need potions stuff from the apothecary's first.' Harry brought his supplies, plus some extras for creating potions that had helped in the first few years. While he did this, Dudley gazed at glinting unicorn horns and charmed owl feathers, next they went to the _Magical Menagerie_ to get Hedwig some owl treats, but Dudley missed the extra money that Harry gave the witch behind the counter.

Leaving the shop they headed for Flourish and Blotts when – 'Hello Potter!' the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy turned Harry and Dudley around. 'Been making new friends eh, another Mudblood is he? Won't last too long then.' At this Dudley bristled, Harry had explained the insult, and while he wasn't a wizard, Dudley was still a proud person. Drawing himself up, he stepped up to Malfoy and stared into the malicious eyes.

'Do you have a problem with me?' Harry joined him and Malfoy looked uneasy without Crabbe and Goyle to back him up. 'I'm not a Muggle wizard since you ask, I'm Harry's Muggle cousin.'

'Even better' Malfoy sneered with false bravado, 'I love turning Muggles into rats–' quickly he raised his wand.

__

'Accio vand' a voice said calmly. Harry turned as Malfoy's wand flew into the speaker's hand. 'Hello Harry, haff a good summer?' It was Viktor Krum.

'Hi Viktor' Harry said in amazement, 'Hermione told me you were here, somewhere, I just didn't expect such an entrance.'

'Ah, but vot good comes from your cousin being a rat though.' Viktor gave a short laugh, then turned to Malfoy. 'Haff your vand back boy, see you at Hogwarts, I'll turn you into a ferret there!' Malfoy grabbed his wand and ducked into the crowd. 'Ah, being free of childhood restrictions is such fun.'

'Oh yeah, you're nineteen now, congratulations!' Dudley than 'ahemed' in the background. 'Oh yeah, this is my cousin Dudley, he's a Muggle, but he can be a wizard at some things.'

'Yes, vot you did vos very brave, not many knowing Muggles stand up to a vizard with a vand.' Viktor said. 'Now, I believe you ver on your vay to Flourish and Blotts, I haff to go there as vell.'

The trio continued shopping for Harry's school list, he picked up the new books and then the boys went to their favourite shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies. 'I vould like to see the teaching manuals' Viktor said as he went in. 'Maybe you should vead them as vell Harry, you could learn about how to play for a team.'

'Yeah, I still don't know what I want to do when I leave school.' As Harry and Viktor browsed the books, Dudley walked up by the display of broomsticks, he'd only ever seen Harry's Firebolt, so was amazed at the range of models available. 'Hey Viktor,' Harry whispered, 'would Dudley be able to fly on a broomstick?'

'Vell your friend Neville can…he's probably at the same level of skill as Dudley.'

'What do you think, he could start with a Nimbus 1500 couldn't he?'

'Vell I suppose so, vy?'

'I owe him for being a friend, plus he punched out a Death Eater who almost fried me, that deserves something.'

'You buy it, and I vill teach him, is that a good deal?'

'Done, now see if you can get him out to the front.'

'I vill buy my book first'

Viktor went to the till, paid the starstruck cashier, signed their 'receipt book' and then left with Dudley. Harry quickly hurried up to the cashier, and placed his order for the broomstick to be delivered to his room. Then he too signed the cashiers book, waved his hand in front of their glazed over eyes 'Viktor Krum and Harry Potter.' and left the shop.

Outside Harry found Viktor showing Dudley the model Quidditch field in the window. 'Hey Viktor I just remembered, we're having dinner at the Leaky Cauldron with the Grangers and Weasleys, would you like to come?'

'Very vell, I vill consider it an honour, and I vill be able to see Hermyone again. See I say her name better now?' The three friends split the loads Harry had brought, and overhead he noticed a slim package fly to the Leaky Cauldron, supported by three owls.

As they walked, Harry suddenly thought of something that had been niggling at his mind. 'Viktor, how come your still learning at Hogwarts? You're nineteen, you're and adult…you're a teacher!' Viktor simply smiled to himself and walked on, with a guffawing Dudley and a flabbergasted Harry.

****

Chapter 5: A Family Again

Dinner that night was as good as a Hogwarts feast for Harry; delicious food, friends and his family. Everyone chatted happily, but every now and again pub patrons came over to see them, or rather to meet Harry and Viktor. After a batch had left Harry turned to Viktor. 'I was right? You are going to be a teacher aren't you?'

'Vell, I haff to try something else, Quidditch is a big part of my life, but I need something else, ve don't alvays qualify for the Vorld Cup.'

'But Hermione said you're going to be in Gryffindor.'

'Yes, officially I vill be a teacher, but I vill live with you students due to time I haff missed, so I vill attend some of your lessons.'

'Are you a Prefect then, Dumbledore didn't tell us who was, but me Hermione and Ron all are.'

'Vy vould I be a Prefect, I can use magic anyvay.'

'That's a good point'

'That's vy I'm Head Boy.'

Nearby Ron spluttered on a fish bone in disbelief and Hermione turned to hug Viktor proudly. 

'You wonderful boyfriend'

'You poor sod' Ron blurted, causing Harry, Hermione and Viktor to laugh at his face of disgust.

'Don't forget you're a Prefect Ron.' Harry reminded him.

'Yeah…but I…come on…Head Boy…it's…oh forget it.' Giving them a sulky look he viciously turned on his salmon.

'So what are you teaching Viktor' asked Mr. Weasley from opposite the table. 'You're not the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher are you?' he looked apprehensive, could Viktor survive more than a year?

'No, but I do know who the new vun is, so do you Harry, very vell I recall.'

'Who is it?' Harry interjected.

'You vill find out on the Express tomorrow' Viktor replied cryptically. 'Myself I vill be teaching vith Madam Hooch, giving advanced flying lessons…and Quidditch lessons in private.' He added with a wink to Harry.

'Can you play for the Gryffindor team' asked Dudley as he joined the conversation.

'Depends on the captain.'

'Who's that?' asked Harry, then looked up to see Viktor staring at him pointedly. 'Me, but I don't know anything about captaining, I only know Seeker moves, not Chaser formations or Beater tactics, and besides how will we both play, we're both seekers.'

'I haff been trained as a Keeper as vell Harry, I vouldn't mind playing you know, I believe that Oliver Vood left two years ago, that leaves you a Keeper short.'

'Well, I guess we could sort something out, you and I could rotate positions if you train me, assuming you don't fail my try-outs' Harry scoffed jokingly.

'Vell I vill just put you in detention,' Viktor smoothly retorted, 'did I mention I vos made assistant head of Gryffindor?'

'Touché' said Harry, then both burst out laughing. They spent the rest of the evening talking and joking, all thoughts of the earlier attack were gone. At about nine the party slowly separated and drifted up to their rooms. Harry was in number eleven, where he had stayed after blowing up Aunt Marge. As he entered a soft hoot came from the top of the wardrobe: 'Hello Hedwig' he said sleepily to the slumbering owl, and before he could reach for the letter on her leg he fell softly into his bed.

'Good night dear' wheezed a sleepy mirror, but Harry was already dozing.

***

Harry woke at eight following a refreshing eleven hours of sleep.

__

Three hours to go…

A soft cooing in his ear made him turn over to find Hedwig perched on his chest, holding out her leg expectantly. Yawning off sleep Harry removed the letter and handed a treat to Hedwig from his trunk. Screeching happily she devoured the snack as Harry unfolded his letter, it was a usual Sirius reply, short and sweet:

__

Hi Harry

I can't really speak now, I've got to pack to get to London tomorrow and I'm mid-pack. I'll see you at Kings Cross on Monday on 9 ¾ - I've got great news.

Oh great, thought Harry, now I've put him in trouble again. Why did he keep bringing Sirius closer to trouble?

__

I'm meeting Remus so you'll see him as well.

Sirius

PS: Fudge and Dumbledore cleared me, I'm free.

Slowly the significance of the last word dawned on Harry, free. With a whoop that sent a ruffled Hedwig back on top of the cupboard Harry leapt from his bed and raced out the door, still wearing his clothes from the day before. He ran down the hall and pounded on doors to Ron and Hermione's bedrooms. 'Wheres'a fire' managed a bleary eyed Ron, he'd spent half the night talking to Dudley.

'HE'S FREE! HE'S CLEARED RON, SIRIUS HAS BEEN CLEARED HERMIONE!' Harry shouted, waking up the floor.

'What, you mean, YEEHHHAAAA' cried Ron. In an embarrassing show of emotion Ron and Harry hugged and jumped up and down, cheering away, soon they were joined by Hermione and as the three generally demolished peace everyone else caught up on the events. It became very noisy until Mr. Weasley's piercing whistle got through the ruckus.

'Congratulations Harry, but it's nine o'clock, lets eat, get ready and move out.'

__

Two hours…

Flustered with excitement Harry went to his room, washed and changed then ran downstairs to eat breakfast. Only Ron had matched him for speed, as the two ate a hurried breakfast, he noticed something. 'Where's Viktor, Ron?'

Through a mouthful breakfast came; 'I think he's arriving soon, he stayed with some student friends, we're giving him a lift though, he should be here by about ten. Hagrid went back to Hogwarts last night.' As soon as the boys finished they went upstairs and packed all their stuff, Harry also fetched two mysterious parcels from his cupboard and put them in the top. By the time they got the trunks downstairs it was a quarter to ten.

__

One and a quarter to go…

The Dursleys and Ginny were already there, 'Ginny, give me a hand helping mum and dad' winking at Harry, Ron led his sister upstairs, he knew about Harry's dealings from the day before. Harry packed in his jumper, which he had been wearing as an excuse, and pulled his packages out of the trunk.

'Morning Harry,' Uncle Vernon said, 'good news about your godfather then.' He handed Harry the Daily Prophet he had been given by Tom.

'Excellent,' he agreed, 'but I've also got a surprise for you.' He placed the first package, a large dome on the table. 'this is for all of you, consider it fifteen years of rent, before you ask, I just felt like it, plus it'll make living arrangements easier. Open it Uncle V.'

'Harry, we…I' he stuttered 'I haven't even given you fifteen years pocket money yet!' pulling back the paper he revealed a handsome tawny owl in the cage. 'Wow, this is brilliant, can we send letters with him, it will make communicating easier, eh Petunia?' as they fussed Harry pulled out the longer present and handed it to Dudley.

'This one's for you.' Dudley's eyes lit up as he tore off the paper, the silver Nimbus 1500 rolled off and floated on the table. Dudley imitated Harry's wonderful codfish impression by gaping widely. Then he reached over and shook Harry's hand to within an inch of breaking it. The family then all began conversing at once, and Harry enjoyed his first real conversation with them for fifteen years. Eventually the name for the owl became the topic of conversation. 'How about Bob?' he asked to howls of derision.

'No,' said Dudley, 'how about Winters?'

'Parkinson' said Uncle Vernon.

'Ooohhh, how about Churchill?' cooed Aunt Petunia. The owl seemed to ruffle his feathers at this, and so the name was agreed on. Then Viktor's head poked around the door.

'I vill be needing some help!' he managed before staggering in under a heavy trunk.' Quickly Dudley and Harry rushed to help.

'Whoa, have you got the Bulgarian Quidditch team in here?' asked Harry.

'Pah! Fame is vorth nothing when it comes vith a heavy trunk – _Hello Mr. Krum, can I have your autograph, carry your trunk? I have a bad back, must go! – _however I see Dudley has something that has lightened his day.' He nodded at the broomstick. 'You're first lesson vith me is on Vednesday.' At this Dudley's eyes glazed over, Viktor Krum, his teacher.

Soon everyone thundered downstairs, the great tradition of barely catching the express was on, Ron congratulated Dudley on his broom, while Hermione cooed over Churchill with Aunt Petunia. Everyone then loaded the trunks into the massive boot space, and by ten fifteen they were ready.

__

Only forty-five minutes to go, forty-five…

Easily fitting into the Weasleys' Ministry car, everyone enjoyed a luxurious ride to King's Cross, arriving with half an hour…_half an hour…_to spare. As everyone got out two Ministry wizards came from the door to help them out, Mr. Weasley had asked for assistance when he realised they had seven trunks altogether. Trunks, owls, suitcases and people, everything was loaded onto trolleys, much to Ginny's annoyance, and taken into the station, in pairs the children went through. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley waited to get the Muggle parents cleared, Muggle children automatically got through, _that explains why so many get lost at stations_ Harry thought. 'See you in a minute…_twenty minutes_…' Harry said as he went through the barrier…then he was through, and the Hogwarts Express stood gleaming in the steam. Moving up to Ron's trolley, Harry helped load their trunks into the compartment that had been reserved for the Gryffindor Prefects and Viktor as Head Boy, but where was the mysterious fourth Prefect? Harry checked on his watch, _Where is Sirius? We leave in a few minutes,_ he thought. Then he clambered out and went to meet the Dursleys.

__

Two minutes…

A hand tapped Harry on the shoulder.

__

One minute thirty…

A familiar voice cleared its throat. 'Excuse me…'

__

One minute, one minute…

'I'm looking for my godson, have you seen him?'

__

Forty-five seconds…

Harry turned with a grin to see Sirius in front of him. 'He's about your height, same eyes, and has a fetching scar here!' Sirius playfully poked Harry's forehead. 'I believe my friend here taught him how to fight Boggarts.' He gestured to his left to reveal a grinning Remus Lupin.

__

Thirty seconds, THIRTY SECONDS…

'You're here, you're free.' Harry voice choked over so he embraced his godfather. Tears ran down Harry's face as he experienced the happiest moment of his life.

__

Ten…nine…eight…

'How are you doing?'

__

Six…five…four…

'Fine now…now I have a father again.' Sirius looked down into Harry's eyes, and saw the son he had never had before, then enfolded him in another deep hug, then on Harry's forehead, his scar began to glow a bright acidic green.

__

Two…one…zero…

The Dursley and Weasley parents stepped through the entrance to see Harry and Sirius embracing, and with a satisfied smile, Aunt Petunia knew she had a 'Potter' family again.

__

Now…NOW…NOOOOOWWWWWW.

As they stepped away, a fireball ripped out the portal, and two bloodied Ministry wizards flew through. Mr. Weasley turned and quickly caught the nearest before he fell. 'What's going on, Cecil, what's going on?'

'You-Know-Who…'

****

Chapter 6: Escape by Express

'GET ONTO THE TRAIN' Mr. Weasley bellowed as Cecil faded into unconsciousness. Along the platform a panic started as parents tried to find places with their children on the Express. 'Vernon, go to Harry, Black! Lupin! Get down here, we've got to close the portal!' as he said this another fireball shot through.

'Harry!' his godfather caught his attention, 'help your relatives, get everyone on the train,' he gave him a quick hug, 'we'll finish this later.' Another gout of flame came through, heading for a family '_Extingus!'_ cried Sirius, and a jet of water shot from his wand to douse the ball. The Dursleys arrived and Harry took action, he pulled open the door to the Gryffindor carriage and hustled them in.

Harry pointed his wand at his throat _'Sonorus,_ everyone get on board' his magnified voice thundered over the crowd, 'Prefects, make sure everyone is on._ Quietus.'_ As he rubbed his neck, Harry noticed Ron, Viktor and Hermione had fought their way to him. 'C'mon we've got to get away, I'll get to the driver, get everyone on board.'

'I vill help the Ministry vizards,' Viktor interjected, 'nobody knows I am Head Boy anyvay.' Harry was suddenly aware he had taken Viktor's role, but then he was running up to the front, while Ron, Hermione and the other Prefects boarded everyone, Viktor ran to the entrance as an explosion broke through, sending another Ministry official flying.

'Ere' wots goin' on?' the puzzled driver was leaning out the side as Harry approached at speed.

'It's Voldemort' he said so fast the driver couldn't be astonished at the name. 'Get the train started and move out slowly when all the parents and children are on, the Ministry wizards can jump on as it goes.' The driver obeyed quickly _(it was Harry Potter after all)_ 'And send an owl ahead to Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts, let him know what's happening.' Harry ran back down the clearing platform. Another explosion sounded as he saw Neville Longbottom loading an old woman into the Prefects compartment.

'Are you sure this is safe Nevvy?'

'Yes Gran, absolutely, now please get on the train.' Neville gave Harry a strained look as he pushed his grandmother on, 'see look, would Harry Potter ride if it was unsafe.'

'Oh I suppose not' she replied as Harry gave a quick smile of reassurance, and she clambered into the compartment with the Dursleys. Harry turned to see several Ministry wizards rise and release a silver burst through the portal in an effort to stop the Dark Wizards breaking through. Was Voldemort actually there is what was bothering Harry, if so why was his scar not hurting.

He ran down to the portal where most of the Ministry wizards were crouched down behind trolleys, three magical stretchers were loading Cecil and the other two injured wizards onto the train. As Harry arrived he saw another fireball form in the doorway. _'Extingus!'_ cried several of the wizards, and it successfully shrunk under the water barrage. As it faded Harry saw into King's Cross, Muggles were running everywhere screaming, but thankfully the Death Eaters were concentrating on the portal.

As one of them drew back his lips to mutter the Avada Kedavra curse Harry raised his wand in retaliation: '_Stupefy!'_ the stunning spell knocked the Dark Wizard over a trolley and into another caster. Harry took in the situation as he ducked behind a cart, there were half as many Ministry wizards as Death Eaters, they were trapped with the Express the only form of exit, how could they successfully delay the inevitable breakthrough?

Suddenly he felt his insides turn a terrible cold, and he shivered as a dark shadow moved into the portal, _Voldemort_ he thought, then as the figure passed through it revealed the cloaked form of a Dementor, a dreaded keeper of Azkaban. The other wizards were experiencing similar trouble, only Sirius and Lupin were upright, trying to cast their Patronus spells, but they were weakening. Struggling to his knees Harry focused on Sirius's freedom, and his joy at having a new father. _'Expecto Patronum'_ he bellowed, and 'Prongs' erupted from the tip of his wand. As the first Dementor moved back from the new attack, Harry saw there were two more behind it, no wonder so many of the wizards were struggling to hold on. However as the first Dementor weakened the Ministry wizards seemed to recover, and small Patroni closed in on the Dementors, joining Harry's stag in forming a barrier. Almost fearful of the white mist the Dementors backed out in front of the Death Eaters, 'Prongs' rode back to Harry and then the Ministry saw their chance.

'EVERYONE BACK, NOW' bellowed Mr. Weasley as the Death Eaters cursed the Dementors cowardice. The Ministry wizards, Harry and Viktor ran back to the train. 'Keep your heads down!' Mr. Weasley shouted at the occupants, any second now angry Death Eaters would be coming through the portal. As Harry and Viktor reached the Prefects carriage, Harry was horrified to see Draco Malfoy leaning out, wand raised. Harry raised his wand, but Malfoy was already shouting:

'GET DOWN!' without thinking Harry and Viktor dived to the floor. BANG! Harry felt hot air rush over his head as the spell flew towards the portal. He rose with Viktor as the Express slowly began to draw away, leaping into the door Malfoy held open, Harry turned to see several Death Eaters floored around the entrance, Malfoy had hit them with a curse at the same time as several other Prefects, he had saved Harry's life!

As the train gathered speed Harry watched from the window as several Death Eaters swarmed onto the platform, launching off curses at the rapidly receding train. A few Ministry wizards returned fire, but they were well out of range. A shuffling beside him made Harry turn to see Malfoy leave for the Slytherin compartment, on his chest the silver 'P' shone. On exiting he turned to see Harry watching him, he opened his mouth to speak but no words came out, instead he gave Harry a searching gaze before leaving. Harry turned back to the window, and saw smoke rising from King's Cross, _thank god the Ministry of Magic is based in London, they'll sort that out quickly_. Then as the train rounded the bend, Harry saw the Dark Mark shoot up into the sky, and once again his chest turned to ice.

***

Back on platform nine-and-three-quarters the smoke swirled round the figure entering, behind him another person followed, one arm made of silver. 'Failure again,' Voldemort spat, turning to the nearest Death Eater he raised his wand _'Crucio'_ the spell rolled off his tongue and the wizard squirmed in pain. Chuckling softly Voldemort walked to the end of the platform, he saw the steam from the Hogwarts Express rise in the distance, and turned to the nearest Death Eaters who were standing. 'After them, use your broomsticks, you must stop them before they reach Hogwarts, and the old fool himself.' As the group of Death Eaters mounted their brooms, the smaller silver-armed figure darted forward to give final instructions.

'Keep the Potter boy alive, do with the rest as you will.' He hissed, then Wormtail turned to follow his master and the rest of the Dark Wizards and the unconscious forms of fallen Death Eaters and some Ministry officials. As they exited the platform, as he left, a hissing laugh escaped his lips, _soon, soon… _

***

As Viktor left to find the Ministry officials, Harry wearily slumped down by the window in the Gryffindor Prefects compartment. Inside the carriage were Ron and Hermione, the Dursleys, Neville and his grandmother (with stuffed vulture hat) and two younger students who he didn't know. 'Everybody okay?' he managed weakly. Everyone nodded, but they were clearly shaken by the attack. Neville reached above the seats and opened his trunk, rummaging inside he removed some chocolate, and split off pieces for everyone. As he passed Harry, Neville's cloak shifted and Harry saw the glint of a silver badge, he was the mysterious fourth Prefect! Quietly he whispered to Neville; 'when did you get the letter?' as Neville turned, Harry gave him a wink and pointed to the badge on his chest. Neville mouthed 'July' and then gave Harry a contented smile.

Turning back to the window, Harry looked out onto the fields and back towards London, the city had become a smudge on the horizon. Movement caught Harry's eye and he stared as several black dots floated up over a distant hill and headed for the train. Reaching into his trunk he grabbed his Omnioculars and trained them on the hilltop – Death Eaters on broomsticks, they were still after the train! 'Erm, Neville come with me, Ron, will you and Hermione watch the window please.'

Giving Harry a funny look Ron and Hermione went to the window anyway as he led Neville into the corridor, which was slightly crowded with parents. He turned to Neville to explain what was happening; 'There's a group of Death Eaters following the train, we have to find Mr. Weasley, first get them into compartments' he muttered to Neville and between them they cleared the corridor. As they were doing this Harry went to each house's Prefects and alerted them to the threat stalking them. As he went to enter the Slytherin compartment he saw Malfoy already had the other Prefects at the window, he turned and saw Harry, gave him a grim nod of acknowledgement and then went back to the window as Harry and Neville went into the next carriage.

As soon as they entered Harry caught sight of Mr. Weasley hurrying towards them, 'Death Eaters!' they both said at the same time, 'I've got all the Prefects organised in the end compartments.'

'Well done, Viktor has taken care of the rest that I missed out, Harry, we can't outrun them in the Express. They'll be catching us up soon, we're at the windows but how can we stop them?'

'What broomsticks are they on?' Neville interrupted, unlike his usual self.

'Nimbus 2000s mostly' Harry replied, then Neville took off down the carriage from where Mr. Weasley had come from. 'Neville, where are you going?' Mr. Weasley gave Harry a questioning look so he shrugged back, Neville was Neville, except now he seemed more confident than Harry had ever realised.

'Arthur, they're here!' shouted a Ministry wizard as a loud THUMP came from the end of the train.

'I have to go Harry, get back to the front, the others will need you.'

'Have you seen Sirius and Lupin?'

'Other end' Harry caught as Mr. Weasley disappeared into a compartment. Torn between going to look and returning, Harry eventually gave up and returned back the way he had come, Sirius and Lupin could look after themselves. He ran down the corridor to the Gryffindor compartment and opened the door.

__

'Stupefy!' cried Ron and he sent a blue beam out at a Death Eater near the carriage. Harry joined Hermione at a window and looked out at the scene; several spells were issuing from the train at the Death Eaters who swooped around them, sending back fireballs and green blasts. As fireballs impacted most were doused with carefully aimed extinguishing charms, but both the Ministry wizards and Hogwarts students were having trouble hitting the Death Eaters. Behind Harry the compartment door slid open and Viktor entered, part of his cloak was singed but he have Harry a small grin, Neville also entered with a smile on his face.

'I haff an idea…'

***

In the corridor were Harry, Viktor, Neville and several other Hogwarts students, all wearing looks of determination. Around him Harry could hear and see the ongoing skirmish with the Death Eaters, many students had small cuts or burns, while a few were lying on couches having been hit by stunning spells or small explosions. 'are you sure this will work?' he murmured to Viktor. He got a short nod in return and a gesture to begin. 'Let's go' he said to the group, and kicked open the compartment door and leapt from the train.

With a swoop he felt the familiar wind in his face as his Firebolt launched him skywards, stopping at twenty feet above the train, he waited while the other students took off from the train, with Viktor acting as rearguard. Fortunately for him most of the Death Eaters had moved up to the engine so the escape from the middle was unnoticed. The rear carriage was fighting a large fire, while the Prefects were under more fire as they were directly behind the engine.

As Viktor arrived Harry turned to the group, 'Wands out!' he ordered, 'I need two of you to go and help with the fire, everyone else we're gonna do a Hawkshead.' With this Neville and another student flew down after the rear carriage while the rest massed together and launched themselves forward at the train, Harry and Viktor in the lead.

As the nearest Death Eater pulled up from an attack he turned to see a mass of grim students heading towards him in a wedge, holding their wands at the ready. _'Stupefy'_ cried the leading figure, then the dark wizard felt a weird tingling and fell from his broomstick to the ground as the formation rushed passed him.

Continuing the Hawkshead formation Harry led the assorted Quidditch students, including Cho Chang of Ravenclaw, Terence Higgs of Slytherin and Angelina Johnson from Gryffindor, through the small group of Death Eaters, knocking several off the brooms and leading others into the beams from the Prefects and Ministry wizards. As they passed the engine Harry shouted again; 'Break by pairs, go after single wizards and watch each other and friendly spells.' With this he and Viktor pulled flawless loops and raced after the nearest Dark Wizard who frantically tried to pull away from two Leg-Locker Curses then yelled as his legs locked and sent his broom crashing down into a ditch. As Harry pulled up again he gave a victorious cry as he noticed only five Death Eaters remained in the sky.

Then his cry turned to horror as one Death Eater sent a thunderbolt into a knot of students, two fell while the rest lost control and shot upwards. Bursting with speed Harry and Viktor shot forwards on their brooms, the students and Death Eaters dodged aside as the speeding Seekers shot through the dogfight. Five feet above the ground Viktor caught Adrian Pucey and two feet from impact Harry swooped under an unconscious Alicia Spinnet. As he pulled up Cho Chang brought Alicia's broom over and then took off again with Percy Bole. Placing Alicia on her broom Harry swooped to the nearest compartment and willing hands took her inside. Harry took off again and was heartened to see that only two Death Eaters remained in the air, but now there were only six students, and the Dark Wizards were sending out more arcs of lightning.

Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw that most of the Prefects had stopped firing, they could easily avoid their own people, but the Death Eaters were just too manoeuvrable on their brooms. Then an idea came to Harry, and he charged straight at the nearest Death Eater. The Dark Wizard looked up but Harry was too close, and as he swooped he forced the wizard to flip over on his broom, and lose steering capabilities. Moving in a straight line the broom was now an easy target for the Prefects in the Hufflepuff carriage, and several disarming spells struck the wizard and his broom, sending both plummeting.

The last Death Eater searched for escape, but he was blocked by students on all sides, and the train below him, the only option left was straight up. With a sudden move the Dark Wizard feinted left and then zoomed upwards as Harry had predicted, and he and Viktor gave chase once more. Up, up, up went the trio of wizards, leaving the rest to gaze upwards into the sky. 'Harry,' Viktor cried, 'vot shall ve do ven ve catch him?' It was a good point, Harry didn't know why they were going after him, if they stunned the man it would kill him.

'Try and trap him, we can't knock him off and we can't keep heading upwards forever.' As the duo resumed the chase it was clear the Death Eater was having similar thoughts as he began to level off. Coming to a sudden halt he turned to face the two young wizards, they drew their wands, but Harry was puzzled when their opponent remained stationary. Reaching up he removed his hood to reveal a familiar face, it was that of Professor Karkaroff.

'H-hello b-boys, nice to s-see y-you.' He stammered. Viktor nearly dropped his wand, while Harry opened and shut his mouth in a dazed manner. 'I wasn't e-expecting to see you again, I-I was only s-supposed to take the p-platform.'

'Vy?' Viktor interrupted, 'You left us for HIM, vy, you van avay like a coward.'

'I had no choice, he found me, threatened me, I have to work for him now, he'll kill me.'

'Vot about the vones he's already killed? Have you thought of them? Vot about Diggory, Mr. Crouch, Harry's parents?' Viktor spat the accusation at Karkaroff. 'Maybe I vill stun him Harry, he deserves no better.'

'No,' Harry said, 'I want him to speak to Dumbledore, he'll know how to deal with him.' Training his wand on the former Durmstrang head, Harry and Viktor headed back down to the line. Most of the Death Eaters were still down, but a few looked up dazedly as Harry, Viktor and Karkaroff flew overhead, Voldemort would not be pleased…

***

After five minutes Harry and company had caught up with the train, and under Ministry wands they landed until they were identified as friendlies. Under the supervision of four Ministry wizards, Karkaroff was led to an empty compartment in the first carriage. As Harry and Viktor entered the aisle Mr. Weasley came up to them, wearing a frustrated look, he couldn't decide whether to praise or scold them, instead he just gave an exasperated 'Humph' and let them go past.

As Harry entered the second carriage a great cheer erupted from the parents, students and Ministry officials there. Harry and Viktor gave winning smiles, although both really just wanted to sit down. As they slowly progresses through the mob, Harry met Alicia who gave him a hug, while Bole shook Viktor's hand. Wearily they repeated the similar cheering mob as they passed through the rest of the carriages, but it was blissfully peaceful in the Prefects carriage when they entered.

Harry couldn't help but notice the walls were scorched, and most of the Prefects sported burns. Ron and Hermione rushed forwards from the Gryffindor compartment and started gabbling all at once:

'Harry, you were amazing.'

'And you Viktor, that was brilliant flying.'

'We nailed two Death Eaters!'

'You saved Alicia and Percy!'

'Who was that person you brought back?' Harry and Viktor tried to explain but eventually shrunk under the barrage of questions, the rest of the compartment doors opened, and the rest of the Prefects came out into the corridor. As everyone crowded round, the door into the carriage opened and Sirius walked through causing most of the students to leap back (why should they read the Daily Prophet?) and a few drew out their wands. They stopped immediately when Harry ran and embraced him, then as Hermione explained for those who hadn't heard the news about Sirius's acquittal, they slipped into a compartment with Viktor and Ron to talk about the fight.

When they were inside both Viktor and Harry collapsed on one of the seats. 'Phew' Harry exclaimed, 'I don't know what was worse, the fight or getting through that lot!' Sirius gave a short chuckle, then he settled down on the opposite seat. 

'You realise what you did was very stupid?' he said softly. Harry and Viktor both looked at the floor in the traditional response. 'It was also very brave, and saved a lot of lives…it's what your father would have done Harry, you should be proud of yourselves.' He than settled down and looked out the window. 'You remember I said I had great news in the letter?' Harry looked puzzled, he was free and Harry's new father, wasn't that the great news. 'The great news is that I'm the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.' Now Harry wore a look of total bewilderment, Sirius was teaching at Hogwarts! As he gave an amused laugh, Ron, Hermione and Neville entered from the corridor as the crowd outside dispersed.

'Hey, what's so funny?' asked Ron. 'We've just had to deal with that mob, and you're all having a laugh.'

'Hermione, Ron, Neville, may I introduce the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.' Harry managed before chortling again, this time at their amazed looks. As they congratulated Sirius and joined Harry in laughing, the Hogwarts Express rushed on in the increasing darkness. Harry turned out of the conversation and let his thoughts wander as he gazed out of the window. What would happen to the parents? Would Dumbledore know what to do about Karkaroff? How would this year finally turn out?

***

'You failed me again Wormtail, you and your Death Eaters.' The voice was harsh and raspy, 'The Potter boy escaped, I have lost a Death Eater whom would have served me well, now he may as well be a Mudblood loving whelp again.'

'Please master, one more chance.' Peter Pettigrew cowered in front of Voldemort.

__

'Crucio' as Wormtail writhed before him, Voldemort voiced his thoughts; 'you will get another chance, I will still find a use for Karkaroff, that traitor will pay more than he has.' He lifted his wand and removed the curse from a violently shaking Wormtail. 'He will be useful for a short while longer, as will you. Now, marshal my forces again, we will gather for the next stage of my plan. If Harry Potter will not come to me, I will have to go to him.' As Voldemort chuckled harshly Pettigrew scurried away to fulfil his master's orders, after he left Voldemort turned to the huddled forms of the Ministry wizards he had captured in the attack. 'Now, what shall I do with you?'


	3. Parts 7 - 9

****

Chapter 7: Hogwarts

It was nearing blackness as the familiar voice came over the intercom: _'We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please take your luggage off the train, we will be supplying extra coaches.'_ As Ron and Harry went up to the windows, the door slid open to reveal Dudley, who had been separated from them since the attack. Harry gestured him to come to the window as they approached the small platform, which was unusually lit up by several lights. _'Please note that first years will also be expected to travel by coach to the school this year.'_ Harry gave Ron a look, the teachers were reacting to the attack by getting everyone into the school as quickly as possible. _'Will all parents and guardians please travel with their children, all other relations must journey in separate coaches.'_

'I better tell mum and dad' Dudley said.

'You can come in my carriage,' Sirius said, 'otherwise it would just be me and my trunk, Lupin's going with the Ministry officials.' As Dudley left Harry noticed that the lights were in fact the wands of the teaching staff who were all gathered on the platform. The Express slowly drew to a stop so Harry opened the door onto the platform, and began lifting his trunk down from the rack. He helped Neville with his grandmothers, then stepped out onto the platform, none of the other carriages were open yet. Among the assembled teachers Harry saw Hagrid, Professors Flitwick and McGonagall, but surprisingly Filch was there and there was not sight nor sound of Albus Dumbledore.

Harry pulled out the others trunks then aided Granny Longbottom in descending from the compartment. By now the other carriages were opened by the teachers, and the Prefects were helping other students get their parents and luggage into the carriages lined up on the other side of the platform. Harry supervised the two younger students who had been in his compartment, then went to find Viktor, Ron and Hermione. 'Harry, over here.' Ron waved Harry over to where he and Hermione were standing with Hagrid.

When he arrived he found himself enfolded in a hug by Hagrid, whose whiskery beard was sodden with tears. 'Harry, I thought yeh were a gonna when I heard. What yeh did was fantastic.'

'Mmmph!' Harry made a desperate attempt to get some air, Hagrid stopped hugging and released him. 'I was nearly a goner there instead!' Hagrid's face looked even more downcast at this: 'It's good to see you too Hagrid, how did you know about the fight.' To his side Ron gave a significant cough, then gave Harry a chirpy smile. 'Thank you Mr. Weasley, now lets get to Hogwarts.' With a grin he led the others to one of the last coaches remaining, while the teachers boarded the others. While the coaches bumped and bounced their way up the path, Harry lent forward to speak with Ron and Hermione while Hagrid was distracted. 'You know that Death Eater me and Viktor brought in, it was Karkaroff!' Before Ron or Hermione could voice an opinion Hagrid turned back from the window, so Harry broke the conversation.

In a few minutes they were at Hogwarts, and Harry stepped out to view the magnificent castle once more. The towers and fortifications looked as impressive as ever, and the black sky made the pale structure stand out as even more impressive then he remembered. Most of the students had already been escorted inside, they left their luggage in the carriages as instructed by McGonagall, then entered into the Entrance Hall, and as he did so, Harry saw a group of house elves appear from nowhere to start unloading the luggage. It was more crowded than ever before, there were parents, teachers and students in every available spot, no one had yet opened up the doors to the Great Hall, so there was chaos.

'Attention please, will everyone please clear a path for me so I can get to the doors.' Minerva McGonagall's voice rang over the noise, and the mob readily cleared a passageway for the deputy headmistress. 'Students, will you take your normal seats at the tables, first years, please line up at the front of the hall for the Sorting, parents and other adults, please accompany your children, we have extra seating at the sides, please sit in the nearest available space to your child.

As everyone filed in Harry saw the Dursleys trying to wade through, while Sirius attempted to make a path for them to get to Harry. Eventually they made it, with Dudley giving Harry an excited look as he gazed around the castle foyer, Uncle Vernon managed a cheery grin, while Aunt Petunia could only look confused. The crowd had thinned so Harry managed to get to the Gryffindor table and saved himself a seat between Ron and Viktor, with Hermione seated opposite with the twins. He then helped Dudley and his parents grab seats at the side, however he finally had to ask professor Binns to draw up a chair for Uncle Vernon. While the ghost did so, Harry remembered to explain about the ghosts and poltergeists to a petrified Uncle Vernon, then he rejoined Ron at the table. Looking up at the front table, Harry saw the rest of the familiar teaching staff, Professors Binns and Flitwick, Sprout, Hagrid, Sinistra, Madam Hooch, Snape and oddly Sirius was beside him, but who was missing? He was about to start up the Karkaroff conversation again when the Sorting Hat was brought into the room by Professor McGonagall and placed it on the stall. 

The whole room was quiet except for the murmurs of the wizarding families explaining the to the Muggles the significance of the Sorting Ceremony. Harry gazed with anticipation at the brim of the hat, where its mouth would appear to announce the placement of the new students in their houses. But before that – his thoughts were distracted when the brim split and the song began:

__

Gryffindor and Slytherin,

Two houses in this hall,

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,

Four is the total in all,

The Lions' hearts are brave,

The Badgers bold and true,

The Serpents are all cunning,

The Eagles' thoughts come through,

I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,

Your future mine to see,

You can go to any house,

They're all the same to me,

There is one thing that I do know,

The same to be said for all,

Courage, friendship, chivalry,

United in this hall,

No matter which house,

Each student does attest,

To the Hogwarts history,

Their characteristics best,

So put me on your head,

And do not be afraid,

Whichever house you get,

A good decision has been made,

For I'm the Sorting Hat,

Impartial to the end,

So put me snug on your head,

I'll give your house a friend.

The Great Hall erupted into the usual cheers that greeted the end of the song, while the first years looked more relaxed and the students at the tables waited for the first student to be sorted. Professor McGonagall said the first name; 'Alcott, Emma'. As she put the hat on, the hall quietened leaving her squirming on the chair, as the hall waited, the brim of the frayed hat opened:

__

'Gryffindor!'

'Boot, Edward'

__

'Hufflepuff!'

'Briars, Thomas'

__

Hufflepuff'

As the sorting continued Harry turned to Ron and continued the conversation from the coach. 'What do you reckons gonna happen to Karkaroff?' Harry asked. Ron shrugged, while he was interested to know, his stomach had taken over for most thoughts. Harry turned round to see how the Dursleys were faring after a puzzling and exciting day. Uncle Vernon was doing another slack jaw at the Sorting Hat, while Aunt Petunia was engaged in gossip with Mrs. Weasley again. Dudley was looking all around the hall, at the houses' drapes, the enchanted ceiling (a pale moon hung in the ceiling that evening) before eventually resting his eyes on the floor of the hall, where he scanned all the faces before stopping on Harry. With a large wink he gave him the thumbs up, then scurried over as 'Matthews, Gregory' approached the stool.

'Hi!' he said excitedly, like a little student on his first day ever at school. 'This place is so amazing, you never told me about the ceiling.' As Harry managed half a conversation with Dudley, he also listened to the Sorting. 'How are they going to deal with the non-students that got on the train like me' Dudley asked.

'I dunno' Harry replied as the last student (Williams, Catherine) came to the Gryffindor table, then Dudley's question was answered by Professor McGonagall.

'Will all other students please approach the front now.' She shouted over the chattering that had followed the last student, 'They will now also be Sorted into houses that will be adopting them this year.' At this there were murmurs from the adults, why couldn't they just go home with their children? Dudley gave Harry a nervous look, then walked up to the front, he wasn't the only person who looked out of place, and he had robes. Most of the others were too young to be in Hogwarts, but he was surprised to see Viktor and a few older non-students as well. 'Now, as I call your name, you will don the Sorting Hat as the first years did, then go to your respective house tables.'

Before Dudley could wonder how she had got a list of names, the first was called. 'Bole, Albert'

__

'Slytherin' Dudley saw the young boy run over to where his brother lifted him high above his head. He hardly heard the next person as his nerves built up, and then:

'Dursley, Dudley!' He nervously approached the stall, and with great effort he managed to calmly put the Sorting Hat on his head, this disappeared when it began to talk to him.

'Oho, a Muggle eh? I haven't had a Muggle under this hat for years, course they could do something. So let's see, ah! You're Harry Potter's cousin, I must say, you should have some wizarding heritage, it is on your side of the family. Oh well, only time will tell…Gryffindor!' The hat shouted the last word to the entire hall, and in a daze Dudley walked down to sit beside Harry, while the entire table cheered him on. As the rest of the non-students were Sorted Harry tried to snap Dudley out of his daze.

'Earth to Dudley!' he said. 'This is Harry Potter to Dudley Dursley, I repeat, Earth to Dudley!'

'Y-yeah?!' he stammered eventually.

'Are you okay, you look more nervous than before the Sorting!'

'I'm fine, but the Sorting Hat, it said I had wizard blood in me, how is that possible?'

'Well my mother had wizard blood in her, that's why she was a witch, I guess it was dormant in Aunt Petunia but came back in you.'

'Then how come I haven't been able to do anything, y'know like when you were at our school and jumped on the roof.'

'I guess it's because your parents never encouraged you to think you were any different to anyone else. We'll have to ask one of the teachers, I'll try McGonagall, she's our head of house.' Harry then trailed off as the food appeared in front of all the students at the tables, looking over his shoulder, he saw all the parents had been given tables, and his uncle and aunt were in conversation with the Weasleys and Neville's grandmother.

As Harry continued eating with the rest of the Gryffindors, the conversation gradually turned to the new staff members, and the presence of so many Ministry officials. Harry was engaged in conversation, but kept snatching glances at the main table, who was missing, he just couldn't figure it out, the house heads were there, so were all the teaching staff. He was distracted again as the conversation turned from staff to the upcoming Quidditch season after the Triwizard Tournament had led to last year's being cancelled, eventually it turned to who Harry would most likely select. As he was still bothered about the teachers, all Harry would say was that it would be settled by the tryouts, even when it came to who would be the team's Seeker.

By the end of that conversation, most of the students and parents had finished and many began to drift off to sleep at their tables. At the head, Professor McGonagall addressed the hall again; 'Will all students please make your way to your house common rooms in about twenty minutes, if the parents and relatives can stay behind we'll deal with your sleeping areas next. One Prefect from each house should go on ahead to the entrances in fifteen minutes to set the password. For now could Harry Potter, Viktor Krum and Draco Malfoy please accompany me.'

Shooting Viktor a puzzled glance, Harry rose and went up to the head table, where McGonagall waited with Malfoy. Before he could ask what was going on, 'No questions for now Potter, please just all come with me.' As Viktor arrived she led them out of the Great Hall, and into the Entrance Hall. Going up the marble stairs, she led them to a familiar gargoyle on the floor above the library. 'Blast it, what's the password?'

'Erm…is it still Cockroach Cluster?' Harry asked tentatively, but before a shocked McGonagall could reply, the gargoyle leapt aside, revealing a small staircase. Ron and Malfoy gave Harry a weird look, then followed McGonagall up the stairs to a small wooden upon which she rapped three times. The door to the office opened by itself, then McGonagall left the boys, and while Harry and Malfoy uneasily eyed each other, Viktor went over to admire the collection of books in one of the shelving cabinets. A soft caw made Harry turn to see Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, on his perch, he gave Harry the usual benign look, then turned his magnificent head and started preening his plumage.

Before Harry could do anything else, the office door opened again and McGonagall returned with Lupin and Sirius. 'Now, as you may have noticed, Professor Dumbledore was not present at the Sorting.' That was what Harry had failed to notice, Dumbledore, he hadn't seen him at all that evening. 'I have two pieces of news, the first is that Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow, sorry about the short notice but their you go, pass that on to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff captains will you two.' This was addressed to Malfoy and Harry. Professor McGonagall took in a breath, then gave them the next bit of news; 'now boys, what you're about to find out is not to go beyond the Prefects, possibly even yourselves…' Giving them a stern look as she spoke, Professor McGonagall placed herself behind Dumbledore's desk. 'As you've probably guessed' she continued, looking specifically at Harry, 'Professor Dumbledore is here, that is why Fawkes is still here,' at this she selected one of the books Viktor had briefly looked at. However, this one did not slide of the shelf, but caused it to shift aside from McGonagall to reveal another secret passage. 'Now if you'll all follow me, Professor Dumbledore wants a word.' Walking away slowly, she led the boys inside and Lupin followed up, as he was about to close the door, Fawkes called out and swooped to land on Harry's shoulder where he perched contentedly.

****

Chapter 8: Dumbledore

The passageway was made of stone, and looked to have been recently made, the stones were cut cleanly and it was still smooth. McGonagall led the boys onwards into the passage, it curved left and right, up and down until Harry had no idea where they were in relation to Dumbledore's office. After a few more turns they reached a sturdy iron door, that McGonagall simply opened without the need for a charm or spell. As Harry passed it he noticed an inscription on the back; _Sometimes the obvious is the greatest disguise._

Now inside Harry saw that they were in a simulacrum of Dumbledore's office, except most of the shelves were clear and there were no cupboards against the walls. Fawkes released a burst of song and flew from Harry's shoulder to perch on the edge of the desk, which still held prime position in the centre of the room. Behind it stood Albus Dumbledore, hands clasping his wand, his twinkling eyes focused on Fawkes, the old wizard was nothing similar to the tired old man he had appeared as to Harry last year. A movement behind the elderly wizard attracted Harry's attention, and he saw a familiar map mounted on the wall, as he studied it he saw a dot marked Remus Lupin close the door to the knew room, which appeared to be in the middle of Moaning Myrtle's toilet.

Coughing slightly, Dumbledore began to address the three boys; 'Welcome back to Hogwarts again, this conversation is not to leave here, it is, in a sense, my debriefing of the attack. I have received a letter from the driver of the Hogwarts Express, thanks to your quick thinking Harry. I also was owled by Minister Fudge about the clean up, he was fortunate that the Muggle police thought it was a terrorist attack. The Ministry have explained the attack to me, but I would also like to hear it from each of you as well…' 

With a nod to Viktor, the new Head Boy began relaying the event from the portal's explosion to the capture of Karkaroff. Harry wasn't paying much attention though, he was more worried about the presence of Malfoy, why was he here? Harry knew his father, Lucius Malfoy, to be a Death Eater, was Dumbledore foolish to trust Draco? As Harry's thoughts meandered Dumbledore asked Malfoy to give his version of the attack, but his particular focus was the absence of any friends, students or parents that Malfoy would have noticed, having been there since ten thirty.

'Harry, do you have anything to add?' Snapped from his reverie, Harry stumbled out an answer.

'Erm…only that when Viktor went to help the Ministry wizards I went to the driver to get him to owl you.' Satisfied with the answer, Dumbledore lent back in his chair and clasped his hands under his chin. While he thought, Harry shot a glance at Viktor who gave him an equally puzzled look, he then turned to Malfoy, but he was studying the Marauder's Map with interest. With nothing else to do, Harry sat in silence and also studied the map, the Great Hall was nothing but a mass of dots with nametags, while several labels bobbed about representing the ghostly population of Hogwarts. Occasionally Dumbledore put his wand to his head and put some thoughts into his Pensieve, until on the third dip, Lupin gave a short cough that seemed to awake the headmaster.

'We need to take the boys back now headmaster, was there anything else?'

'What? Oh yes, thankyou Remus, could you and Minerva please wait outside, I'll speak to you in a minute' he said with a nod at Professor McGonagall. As the two left, Dumbledore got up and went over to the map again, he then turned back to face the trio again. 'I have decide to share some news with you boys, Voldemort's attack today has signalled a series of similar events worldwide, most Ministries abroad have come under a siege so to speak. I fear this may happen here in Britain as well.' He paused, then turned to face each boy in turn. 'This place will be my headquarters if you like, where I will gather all the news on what I am calling the siege. I may call you all here or individually from time-to-time, all the announcement will say is that there is a Quidditch problem. However before you go, I want you all to know this, while you may not fully trust each other, I trust you all as I trust all my staff, completely and utterly, I would gladly put my life in your hands if the situation ever arose.' With this sombre note he dismissed them and called in Professor McGonagall, then Lupin escorted the boys back through the passage.

'Right boys, if you go back to the great hall, I think you'll find they're almost ready to send everyone to their houses.' Lupin sat behind Dumbledore's desk as the boys left and lifted some files he had put there earlier. _A siege_ he thought grimly, _that's what's coming, and by God I hope we've chosen our defence well._ He stared blankly at the door the boys had just exited, then with a sigh placed the files before him, each carried a title in green ink, written by a spidery hand; _'Viktor Krum'_, _'Harry Potter'_, _'Draco Malfoy'_ and _'Hogwarts Academy: In event of emergency'_. With another deep sigh he opened the first file, and buried his mind in the information it contained.

***

Just before they entered the hall, Malfoy suddenly spoke to Harry; 'Can I have a word?' Harry nodded and Viktor raised an eyebrow but continued walking, leaving the two alone in the corridor. Glancing around, Malfoy then opened his mouth to speak; 'Um…first I want to apologise about Diagon Alley, my father was nearby.'

'Erm…sure' replied a confused Harry.

'Secondly, our new password is _Salazar_, you may need it, I may need you to need it.' At this confusing suggestion, Harry looked for a trick in Malfoy's eyes, but all he saw was sincerity. 'I can't expect you to give me your password, after four years of madness, you should account for that first…you've probably noticed how few of us Slytherins there are this year, as I told Dumbledore, Crabbe and Goyle have both gone, so have several others.' Harry was more bemused by this, and tried to interrupt, but Draco cut him off again. 'Look, I've always trusted you, even though I wasn't allowed, I trust you over my own father, you can guess why. I trust you to trust me now, especially with what's about to happen, I know it's a lot to ask, so think about it, give me an answer when you can.' With this he hurriedly moved into the hall, leaving Harry with questions and answers.

Stumbling over a column, Harry went into the Hall where he met Ron and Dudley. 'Hey! What did they want?' Harry waved off Ron's question and mumbled about the attack. 'Viktor and Hermione have gone up to the common room, hey, why did they take that git?' he said with a nod to Malfoy who was sneering among the Slytherins again. Harry just mumbled about Quidditch, which then focused Ron and Dudley on a new subject. As he explained the earlier tryouts to Ron and Dudley (Excellent! I'll try for Keeper!) he saw Malfoy go over to the new Hufflepuff captain, Ernie Macmillan, a friend of Harry's from Herbology.

Remembering his duty as a Prefect, Harry left an excited Ron and Dudley and looked for the Ravenclaw captain, Roger Davies, at their table. As he approached the table a figure detached itself from a conversation, as he drew closer Harry recognised it was Cho Chang. Harry hadn't spoken to her since the year before, he'd seen her earlier in the attack for a brief moment, but unbidden her mournful image at the previous year's Leaving Feast, Cedric's Feast came to his mind. Before he could form a word, Cho interjected; 'Hello Harry, I-I saw you earlier, you erm…still fly well.' The conversation, if that's what it was, lapsed into an awkward silence, 'uh, who are you looking for?'

'Oh, Roger, I have news about tryouts for the Quidditch teams this year.'

'He left earlier, you can tell me if you want, I'm a Prefect as well as Seeker, I'll give out the news.'

'Oh…well it's just that the Quidditch tryouts are going to be tomorrow…I'll…I'll see you there.'

'Okay.'

With this Harry gave her a nervous smile and retreated back to Ron and Dudley where they were arguing over who would become the new Keeper for the team. As he arrived Professor McGonagall re-entered the hall and announced that everyone should make their way to their houses, Harry let Ron and Dudley go on ahead and then went over to his aunt and uncle to see how they were doing. Mr. Weasley arrived at the same time having just spoke with Professor Sprout who was handling the allocation of all the parents. 'Harry, you can tell everyone else where we are, Vernon, you and Petunia will be in Flitwick's spare classroom, we'll be next door in his main room.' Having cleared the arrangements, Harry made his way to Gryffindor tower. At the familiar portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry found several new Gryffindors who had been late to leave their parents in the Great Hall.

'Password please Mr. Potter.' Asked the smiling portrait.

'Pigwidgeon' Harry quoted, and the Fat Lady swung forward to admit the Gryffindors. On the other side, the common room was a haven of soft chairs and a warm fire, while there was also the beginning of term bustle as students moved back and forth, the new Gryffindors, as well as the adopted ones, were being shown about. Harry bypassed the crowded hearth conversations, where the Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis, had challenged the Weasley twins to a game of exploding snap. Looking over the crowd, Harry could see that George was already down to one eyebrow, while little Dennis, who was so small he'd been standing on the table, looked like a spit roast that was slightly overdone.

Chuckling Harry moved up to the stairs where he met Seamus Finnigan and the two went upstairs, talking about Lupin's reinstatement as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Seamus was especially enthusiastic, the practical lessons had stuck in his memory, as had his full marks on Lupin's exam. As they entered their dormitory that now had 'Fifth Years' embossed on it, Harry ducked a flying pillow that had zoomed across the room. 

'Football' cried Dean, then he lobbed another pillow.

'Quidditch' responded Ron, while using his wand to deflect the pillow and zoom it anywhere, this time Neville peeked from around the corner and got it in the face.

Suddenly Dudley appeared in between the two feuding clutching two pillows, gave a loud resounding cry of 'Basketball' then ducked. He held up the pillows as the blasts from Dean's and Ron's wands shot into them, then the pillows rebounded into the owners. As Ron and Dean were clotheslined by the pillows, Harry and Seamus dived behind their beds as a tickling charm erupted from Ron's wand frantically windmilling arms. Then Dudley got caught and fell on his bed (which had been squeezed in by Filch earlier) rolling with laughter until Neville shot the counter spell at him.

Tired after the initial tussle, the earlier attack and stuffing his stomach, Harry fell straight into bed. Seamus and Dean also followed suit, but they then continued the argument between football and Quidditch. As this hushed argument continued, Ron clambered into his bed, closed the curtains and within two minutes Harry heard his contented snores. Neville was also asleep quickly, leaving Harry to talk with Dudley, whose bed was on the other side. 'Going for tryouts then?' he asked in a sleepy voice, in response Dudley gave him a tired shrug, 'you probably want to get some sleep, we're gonna have a long day tomorrow.' Reaching up for his curtains Harry looked to the day ahead. Quidditch tryouts, his first lessons, seeing all his old friends and enemies (although this was now a confusing area), his teachers and the castle. He now heard Dudley slumbering contentedly, and remembering his first night at Hogwarts, Harry drifted into a deep and relaxing sleep.

***

That night Harry dreamt, a dream of blood and violence. He was outside the school's main entrance, Ron at his side, all around them were explosions and jets of crackling light from spells launched by approaching Death Eaters. Without being in control, Harry sent charms and curses back at many of the Death Eaters while looking around. To his right he saw Draco Malfoy, blood pulsing from a deep gash on his forehead, then with a wild scream he leapt forward onto a Death Eater whose mask was ripped off only to reveal Lucius Malfoy, who calmly threw off his son, then turned to unleash a curse at Harry.

The curse flew overhead and Harry turned to see the George and Fred Weasley on his left, under a hail of curses. Shoving his brother down, George was hit and fell with a puzzled look, then as Fred rose and turned, gawping at his fallen brother, another lethal curse hit him in the back. Harry heard a hoarse scream and saw Ron run over to his brothers, then a breathless Hermione entered Harry's vision to throw him aside. A green light flashed, and from his stumbling view, Harry saw her lying crumpled on the floor, her eyes blank and grey.

A massive roar snapped Harry's view away, and he saw Hagrid emerging from the Forbidden Forest leading a crowd of beasts and creatures. Harry shot off an Impedimenta Charm and froze Lucius Malfoy as he raised his wand at his retreating son's back, however as Draco ran back to the cover of the entrance, a large fireball erupted from a wand held in a silver arm. The ball smothered Draco, and despite casting the Extingus Charm, Harry couldn't stop him from collapsing in a burning heap. As more Death Eaters charged forward the doors behind Harry opened and a host of students, parents and staff rushed out with Dumbledore in the lead. Then a large explosion erupted with belching green smoke next to Harry, the scene faded into black as he saw Ron's limp body smack into a pillar, and his face turned to see Dudley lying in a pool of expanding blood.

Lying in his bed Harry tossed and turned, Dudley pulled back the curtains to see his scar had gone a brilliant green. Abruptly Harry stopped moving and returned to a normal sleep, his scar faded to normal as well. Yawning Dudley climbed into his bed, he'd ask his cousin about the dream, or whatever it was, in the morning.

Above Gryffindor tower, a large scar shaped mark had appeared, only one pair of eyes saw it in the castle, they narrowed as it faded, then returned to the view before them. The grounds of the castle were moonlit in a harsh picture of black and white. From the forest the figure heard the life of the animals, but they were disturbed, there was more howling than ever from the werewolves, and the unicorns were matching this for whinnying. Sighing, Lupin moved back inside to meet with Dumbledore again.

***

Deep in the forest, the centaurs were gathered in a hollow; Bane, Ronan and Firenze were there among others, from the side furthest from Hogwarts an ageing centaur couple emerged. The rest bowed on their agile legs, then turned to listen as their king began to speak.

'I have seen the Potter Boy's mark tonight, many of you have also, of this I have no doubt. As he was not attacked, I am sure this is the beginning of what we knew would come…'

'Firenze, you have met the Potter Boy before, so you will lead tomorrow's delegation. Ronan and Bane, you will accompany him to speak with Hagrid, while Cascade and Sienna will go with their brother to speak for us.' He gestured at this point to two younger female centaurs, both were the same Palomino colour, although their eyes were a pale blue, not yet a startling sapphire like Firenze.

'I sense the end to the struggle may be near, I cannot see the end, only Tenna would have been able to, alas now she has no more sight.' With this he gestured to his wife, who rested her pale yellow eyes on the source of his voice. 'Now my people, be vigilant for the time of great strife approaches, and this time we cannot watch it pass by, this time…we will play against our own fates in the sky.'

With this the old couple left the circle of centaurs once more, leaving many to ponder the battle to come, Harry Potter may have dreamt it, they knew soon everyone would have to live it.

****

Chapter 9: Lessons to be Learned

Harry awoke feeling refreshed and alert after a good nights sleep, he couldn't remember his dream, but it must have been good, especially if he wasn't woken up. Thinking back he remembered his prior dreams, normally causing his sleep to be abruptly halted, with his scar hurting. Unconsciously he reached up and felt the red mark, why had it come back?

Why hadn't it faded? He expected it was now simply a dormant warning, that appeared only when he, or his family and friends, were in imminent danger. It had been green at the Dursley's house, at platform nine and three quarters, but why hadn't it just faded again, now his famous red scar was back.

Yawing, Harry pushed off his covers, pulled on his robes and opened his curtains, he'd worry about his scar later, he could go and ask Dumbledore. Emerging into the sunlight, he was surprised to see Neville and Dudley had already vacated the dorm, he'd expected both to sleep in due to their previous day. However, behind Ron's curtains he heard a low and grumpy moan, signalling that he had slept in slightly after the day before. As Harry smiled, Dean and Seamus also emerged from their beds and joined Harry as he left the dormitory.

Sleepily they wandered down the stairs and into the common room. It was quite full, although batches of Gryffindor students were now leaving by the portrait hole for breakfast. As he finished descending Harry saw Neville, Dudley and Ginny by the fireplace, carefully dodging a line of first years all scrambling for the exit together, he meandered over to the group.

'G'mornin'' he muttered to an equally drowsy crowd, 'when we goin' for bre'kfast?' From a garbled response Harry gathered they were waiting for Ron and Hermione, and plonked down beside Dudley in a squashy chair. 'Wassamatter?' he asked Dudley, while stifling a yawn, who had just nudged him.

'When's tryouts?'

'After lunch, McGonagall said we've only got to do morning lessons today.' After this Harry was sufficiently awake to discuss what he needed for the Gryffindor team in terms on new players. 'Essentially it's a Keeper I'm after, Oliver Wood left last year and the rest of the teams already filled. There's Ron's brothers, George and Fred, the 'Human Bludgers' as Beaters. Our Chasers are Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, and I'm Seeker, but I'll probably end up swapping with Viktor.'

'You should probably try for Keeper' he said, pointing vaguely at Dudley (or was it the mantelpiece?) 'but you could also go for a reserve place on a team, we need substitutes sometimes.' After this Dudley started looking thoughtfully at the fire while Harry joined in Neville's conversation with Ginny. After a few more minutes a drowsy Ron stumbled down from the boys' tower while Hermione emerged from the girls' dormitory.

'Where's Viktor?' she asked.

'He left earlier,' Neville replied, 'something about seeing Dumbledore, Quidditch problem he said.' As everyone else nodded at the news, Harry's heart did a little flip, wasn't that Dumbledore's secret signal? Forgetting the immediate intrigue, Harry followed everyone else down from Gryffindor tower to the Entrance Hall. However as they reached the lower stairs Harry fell into the trick stair that Neville agilely skipped over. Windmilling his arms desperately, Harry was pushed upright by Neville and lifted out of the stair by Dudley. As he did this Harry marvelled at Dudley's strength, maybe it hadn't all been fat! He was also surprised that he'd been able to pull himself, as he passed the mirror into the Great Hall he noticed he'd gained a few inches, _no wonder Ron looks smaller!_ and also he was thicker around his arms and legs.

Ruminating on this as he entered the hall he tripped over the pillar again and was lifted by Neville, _he's grown too!_ As he dusted his knees Harry's nose was invaded by the delicious scents of honeyed porridge, soup and cooked breakfasts. As they reached the table and walked to the far end, Harry noticed that Viktor wasn't anywhere to be seen, however a loud laugh revealed that the rest of the Gryffindor team were there, and that Fred or George were their normal exuberant selves.

Neville and Ginny grabbed the end of the table as it was vacated, and as everyone else sat down and began to tuck in, the owl post arrived. A great swarm of brown and mottled owls piled into the hall, glancing up Harry noticed Hedwig immediately, her distinctive snowy coat revealing her location. He also noticed that the flock seemed larger, and this was immediately accounted for when a mass of tiny Screech Owls descended down, one for each student.

Swooping in with ease, Hedwig landed right beside Harry and gratefully swallowed a crust of toast. But before he could remove her somewhat bulky letter, a small THUMP on his head announced the arrival of a school owl. Reaching up he grasped his letter as Ron's personal owl arrived and landed in his soup, splattering one of the first years seated nearby. As Ron complained at his owl ('you silly feathery dustbag') Harry opened his letter to reveal his timetable. Putting it aside he popped a small piece of toast into the Screech's mouth and it flew off with a contented chirp.

Ruffling her feathers at being ignored, Hedwig nipped Harry on his finger to attract some attention. She was rewarded with the removal of the letter, which contained some parchments, more toast and a scratch on the head. With a delighted screech she took off and left Harry with the thicker letter and parchments that were inside it, putting them aside, Harry opened his letter – it was from Dumbledore.

__

Hello Harry,

The large parchment enclosed is the Marauder's Map, I found it in Moody's trunk at the end of last year. You know doubt saw the larger version Sirius and Remus helped me construct in my new office.

I have also enclosed a pardon slip for you, as you'll be showing your cousin around, and for some classes, like Divination, he won't be where you are, the parchment will give you twenty minutes of a lesson when required.

'You lucky git!' Ron fumed as Harry pointed out the word 'Divination', it wasn't exactly a favourite among them.

__

Finally, I would like you to come and see me during lunch, I have a problem about Quidditch this year and also some questions concerning your scar, I entirely failed to notice it yesterday, lucky for me, Remus's mind is sharper than my own in the evenings.

Professor Dumbledore

Swiftly pocketing the Marauder's Map, Harry ate the rest of his breakfast while looking at his timetable.

'Ah no!' Ron moaned as he read his, 'Double Potions first, then Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology.'

'So, they aren't all bad' Hermione said referring to the last two.

'But they're all with the Slytherins!' Ron was positively wailing now, ' I can't take that slimeface for four hours.' He was nodding towards Malfoy who was reading his owl post, as Ron turned back Harry continued watching Malfoy who finished his letter, then after a pause he secreted the letter and looked up to see Harry staring back. With a slight nod Harry indicated the letter in his own hand, Draco returned the nod, but then beside him Millicent Bulstrode turned round. Seeing her look as he stared at Harry, Malfoy let out a shout; 'Hey scarface! Ready to watch your giant friend cry again?'

Harry turned away as the Slytherin table jeered, but on the Gryffindor table Ron's face turned as red as a volcano about to blow its top. 'I'm gonna get that weasel this year, I bet his dear old governor dad got us separated from the Hufflepuffs.' Ron was referring to Herbology, but Harry was wondering whether it was Lucius Malfoy or Dumbledore's doing.

'Hey Harry, I've got the same lessons as you!' Dudley interrupted Harry's thoughts, 'good job mum and dad have gone into Hogsmeade to get me some more equipment.' Harry looked to see Dudley was right about the lessons, he was surprised, but then realised he'd never needed his wand for any of them before, except possibly against the Skrewts the year before. Breakfast went too fast after that, and Potions was just around the corner.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dudley arrived just in time to see Neville and the rest of the Gryffindors entering the classroom. Casually they walked in as if they'd been there all along, and surprisingly they weren't automatically swooped upon by Snape. 'Welcome back,' came the silky voice from his office, 'I thought to start by seeing what you dunderheads have forgotten over the holidays, and of course to check that some, _newer_, members have bothered to learn anything.'

He said this with an ominous glance at Dudley, but also at a new Slytherin student. 'You, Masterson,' he said pointing at his own pupil, 'What is the common name or the root of Asphodel once it is burnt?'

'I-I' the boy stammered.

'Tell me then, do you know…Mr. Dursley?' at this Hermione's hand shot up beside Dudley, but somehow he plucked up the courage to answer.

'I believe the name is Herbiscus, and is one component of the draught of the Living Death.' He replied smoothly.

'Astoundingly correct, your side of the family obviously got Potter's brains.' Harry stung inside at this, but he knew that Snape wasn't started yet. 'Now we will attempt to brew some Pericles Juice, this amazing plant will heal any small wound, as such it requires phoenix tears, kindly the headmaster has lent me his.'

With this he opened his cupboard and whistled, to which there was a haunting melody in reply, and Fawkes burst in, and settled on Harry's shoulder. 'Excellent, perhaps Mr. Potter will be kind enough to bottle some tears.' Snape said this with a smile and the Slytherins sniggered appreciatively.

Harry reached up and stroked Fawkes's plumage, then almost willingly the great bird bent his head over Harry's phials and cried. He filled everyone, then with a soft hoot flew back into the cupboard and disappeared, leaving a sallow-faced Snape to dispense the pearly liquid. The rest of the double lesson passed without incident, and to everyone's surprise Neville's potion worked on the small cut inflicted on his finger.

At the end Harry eagerly packed and was about to leave when Snape called him back. As everyone else filed out Harry made his way to the front desk. 'Well Potter, I suppose this is what you call justice, you have a smarter cousin and now you can aptly prove yourself a potions master, I have never known a student to persuade a phoenix before.' 

'However do not think this makes you an exception, you are like any of us, fallible. Even my house members, such as Mr. Malfoy, although I gather he may have changed his stead as well. Now, I may not like you but I will tell you this, I will help you if you help me, we will all need it soon. Now, go, before I regret this conversation. By the way, although Slytherin is now my house, it wasn't always, remember this if you need to trust me.'

Harry left with his mind whirling, Snape had gone somewhere after the Triwizard fiasco last year, was he spying for Dumbledore again. He obviously knew something was up, _and that it's coming to a head_, and now he pledged Harry aid. What in the hell was going on? 

The rest of the morning passed quickly, Harry couldn't even remember what Hagrid had taught him about Kelpies from the lesson. As the Herbology class drew to a close, Malfoy walked close to Harry and breathed 'meet you at the gargoyle,' then he stalked off with the rest of the Slytherins. Making excuses Harry skipped lunch and went straight to Dumbledore's office entrance where he met Draco, a quick password and they were in again


	4. Parts 10 - 12

****

Chapter 10: Trials and Tryouts

Harry was first up the spiralling staircase and knocked on reaching the oaken door. It swung open to admit him and Draco, and instead of Dumbledore, Harry was surprised to find Lupin sat behind the desk. Without looking up he opened the second passageway and absent-mindedly waved them through. As he passed the desk Harry noted the file Lupin was reading, it was about him, beside that were three others, but he couldn't get their names.

Puzzled he followed Draco along the winding passage until they reached the sturdy iron door. Before Draco could knock, Harry grasped his arm on a whim; 'Our passwords Pigwidgeon.' With this Draco gave a curt nod and rapped on the door. The steel door moved open and Harry was surprised to see Dumbledore had done it himself.

'Ah good, perhaps you'd be so kind as to shut the door Harry, it doesn't do my back any good.' Dumbledore sat behind his desk as Harry swung the door shut. 'first I have some news concerning all the parents, you probably missed them today, they are all in Hogsmeade, Draco if you could announce that in the hall after this meeting. Good, now…the emergency we discussed yesterday has somewhat escalated…Voldemort's attacks have increased and…and Durmstrang was attacked earlier.' Harry felt a jolt and Dumbledore lapsed into a reflective pause. Nervously Harry turned to see Draco had gone paler than usual, did he look the same?

'Viktor was told this morning and he's been waiting by the lake, he's expecting the ship, apparently most of the staff and students escaped that way…Onto another urgent matter, our Ministry of Magic has come under siege, much as I described with the others yesterday. Minister Fudge has informed me forces of Death Eaters are attacking on all sides, so far no one has been seriously injured...' Harry didn't like that, no one was badly hurt, but just being hurt was serious enough for him.

'However he realises that he cannot defend such a small building for long against such powerful dark magic as could be summoned. Now onto today's little operation to remedy the solution…' and on that note Dumbledore's eyes began to twinkle as he outlined his most audacious scheme ever.

***

After half an hour of mesmerising tactics and astonishing revelations, Harry and Draco were suitably flabbergasted. 'Now, the operation will begin at about five, so that gives you Prefects three hours for tryouts. Draco I would appreciate it if you could go and announce the tryouts are beginning, Harry, a word if you please.'

Draco left quickly leaving Harry facing Dumbledore and his familiar piercing stare. 'I understand your scar returned when the attacked occurred on your family.'

__

My family… 'Oh…yeah, Dudley said it was bright green as well.'

'And a mark appeared above you.' It was a statement rather than a question.

'Ron said so, yeah.'

'So now, your scar remains…' trailing off Dumbledore leant back and interlocked his hands under his chin. 'I have a new theory Harry, now that your scar is ineffective as defence, it appears to be, well I believe, an 'early warning system' is how Muggles put it. Instead of saving you, it simply warns you of Voldemort's presence, or his enemies.'

Harry swallowed the information, _instead of saving you_, before his scar's powers had saved him from Quirrel, now he had nothing. 'How…how did he find me, I thought you had already charmed the Dursley's house?'

'Ah, now that is a question I would like answered, I put a charm more powerful than the Fidelius charm that we placed on your parents. It kept you hidden, and then…gone.' He paused and picked out Harry's eyes with his gaze again; 'Do you know your mark appeared again last night? Remus saw it when he was taking a break from his work.'

'…was Voldemort nearby?'

'Did you dream Harry?'

'Yeah, but–but it wasn't bad, I didn't wake up with my scar hurting or anything.'

'Another loss I fear, you probably won't have your scar hurting any more, Voldemort can now only hurt you by touch or magic I suspect.'

Harry was silent, he had had no idea, no suspicion at all; all this time he had been defenceless, yet Dumbledore had done nothing. With all his courage Harry prepared his next question; 'W-why are you hiding, sir?'

'…what?'

'Professor Lupin's in your office, Professor McGonagall's running the school, I haven't seen you in a corridor or on the grounds, and, and it's your school.'

'It's not my school Harry, I gave it up.' Harry's jaw dropped. 'Professor Lupin is headmaster now, Arthur Weasley secured him after he replaced Mr. Crouch as a school governor. Only he, Minister Fudge, some of the staff, including Severus and Sirius, and you boys know I'm here. I have stayed here because after Voldemort's rise I have feared the worse, and it turns out I was right.' He sighed and Harry fleetingly saw that tired old man again. 'Now, I've seen your scar, you've learned my secret…it's time for you to leave, tryouts Harry, now off you go…'

Harry rose with a lump in his throat and couldn't clear it to say goodbye, wordlessly he left shutting the heavy iron door. Dumbledore stared after him then turned to his Marauder's Map, he watched the small figure marked 'Harry Potter' leave the school and head for the Quidditch stadium. By the lake was 'Viktor Krum', the figure was in the same place since it had arrived, watching he saw Harry detach from his walk and move over to Viktor. Then movement near the office caught his attention, being led down the corridor by 'Severus Snape' was 'Igor Karkaroff', this would be very interesting.

***

'This year we are conducting tryouts by facing off teams of players. Each house will have four teams, see your captain and they will place you, be aware you may have to play more than once. I am referee, Madam Hooch for those who don't know me, my decisions are final. The captains are; Harry Potter, Ernie Macmillan, Draco Malfoy and Roger Davies. The first match will be Gryffindor versus Slytherin in fifteen minutes, that's it, off you go.'

Harry and Viktor entered the stadium and were immediately swamped by twenty Gryffindors all vying for Harry's attention. Surrounded by loud voices Harry saw over heads that Roger Davies was under more pressure, with almost thirty Ravenclaws surrounding him. 'Erm right then…' but no one could hear Harry, '_Sonorus_…everyone quiet and sit down right now!' immediately the crowd, even the older students sat down. 'Right' he blared, 'damn, _Quietus_, the first team will be Fred and George as Beaters, Katie, Alicia and Angelina as Chasers, Viktor will be Seeker and Dudley is Keeper.' At this Ron looked totally downtrodden until Harry announced him as Keeper in the second and third teams. Oddly he was made to cast some odd decisions, Neville was trying for a Chaser, and the Creevey brothers were going for the Beaters position _(but they'll be attached to the Bludgers by the end!' whispered George._

Finally Harry had assigned everyone and sent the first team over to Madam Hooch. With a sharp blast she sent the Bludgers and Quaffle sky high, a small glint told Harry the Golden Snitch was loose and he watched contentedly at the match began. In the Slytherin team were none of the team Harry had played two years earlier (Draco and the first team were on the other side of the stadium) when he had won the Quidditch Cup, amid one of the most blatant foul-play matches ever. To his relief the only sore incident in the match above was when Dudley had headed the Quaffle clear ('Up the Hammers' cried Dean), but at least he could fly.

Dudley came back down exhilarated beyond words, he had soared, dipped, hung upside down, spiralled and more importantly had saved most of his shots, with a scoreline of one hundred and ninety to thirty. The next game was Gryffindor versus Slytherin and the highlight was little Dennis Creevey stretching himself between broom and a struggling, but held, Bludger that had been aiming for Ron's stomach. Despite losing one hundred and fifty to sixty ('Excellent Keeping Ron, not a single goal') Harry was exuberant when he took off to play in the final match.

***

Over the Forbidden Forest a lone and bedraggled grey owl winged its way towards Hogwarts. In its claws were a charred parchment carrying the official Ministry of Magic seal. The owl also had a burnt look about it, its tail feathers were in disarray and a large burn mark adorned its head. Suddenly a large screech sounded through the air and swivelling his head, the owl saw a large Harris Hawk screaming towards him. With a swift swoop the hawk ripped open one of the owl's wing tendons. The Weasley's owl Errol began drifting into the forest, blood spilling from the new wound.

__

Oh well, I needed a rest anyway…'

***

Harry was racing Ernie Macmillan for the Snitch when he heard the screech, briefly he looked up to see a lone hawk above the forest, and then his mind was back on the game. The Snitch was a foot ahead of Ernie's grasp when Harry's Firebolt outpaced him and Harry felt the cool surface of the Snitch in his hand. Triumphantly he landed and placed the struggling ball back into its box. With Neville's six goals and three from the other Chasers, Harry had given Gryffindor a victory of two hundred and forty to fifty ('Only one shut out than Ron').

Having finished their games most of the Gryffindors went back up to the castle with the Hufflepuffs. Harry stayed at the stadium with Ron and Dudley while Viktor walked over to the lake, where he was joined by Hermione who had just emerged from the castle. As the Ravenclaw and Slytherin game commenced the boys started debating the first and reserve teams. 'Right,' Harry said after ten minutes, 'we're keeping the normal team except one of you to is Keeper, I'll probably alternate you, and me or Viktor will be Seeker. For the reserve we've got one of you two as Keeper, me or Viktor as Seeker, Neville, Seamus and Dean as Chasers-'

'And the Creeveys as Beaters' Ron burst out.

'Why not, Dennis saved your stomach.' With a playful prod Harry was forced to dodge Ron's swipe at his head, and fell into the row of seats in front. With a wild cry between laughter and madness, a bellowing Ron proceeded to chase him over the stadium while Dudley went into hysterics on the seat.

***

__

Bugger.

Errol regarded his torn wing, he had managed to stuff loam into it with his beak.

__

Bugger.

Gingerly he flapped his wings and nearly collapsed from the pain.

__

I bloody well hate being old.

A sudden movement in the bushes caused him t cease struggling.

__

I bloody well hate this forest and all.

Errol closed his eyes as the movement came close, shuddering he prepared for a glimpse of snarling fangs, but instead he felt a warm comforting grip and was lifted. He found himself staring into Firenze's sapphire eyes. 'You are a long way from home.

__

Duh.

'I will take you to Hagrid at Hogwarts, he will take care of you while I speak with Dumbledore and the Potter Boy.'

__

Oi, read this!

Firenze regarded Errol's leg that was now wavering under his nose. 'Ah, this is for Dumbledore from the Ministry, we go now.' This last remark was to his sisters who had remained hidden. Overhead a cawing cause Errol to shudder involuntarily, looking at his torn wing, Firenze's eyes narrowed. 'We go right now.'

__

'bout bloody time.

****

Chapter 11: A Surprise Shipment

'Oi, Harry, get yeh backside down here.' Hagrid's voice thundered through the stadium as Harry climbed over another row of seats. 'Hurry, you two better come as well.' Slowly a puffed out Ron and Harry scaled down the chairs while Dudley walked over chortling. However when he was a few feet away he abruptly stopped and turned around with his hands in his mouth. As Harry and Ron approached they saw why, in Hagrid's hands was a crippled grey owl leaking blood onto the grass.

'Errol!' Ron exclaimed, 'What happened to him Hagrid?'

'Looks like a hawk attack, I'm sorry Ron.' He said morosely as Ron stared at his family's ageing owl. 'I've gotta take yeh to Dumbledore Harry, yeh've got some friends here as well.' Hagrid gestured to three palomino centaurs who had just entered the stadium. 'Yeh know Firenze already, these are his sisters Cascade and Sienna.' Harry mumbled a hello but couldn't peel his eyes off Errol.

'Can you help him Hagrid?' Ron asked, paler than Harry had ever seen him, but he only got a hopeful shrug in return. 'I better tell mum and dad, h-he was with Percy in London…' Ron stumbled off towards Hogsmeade path and with a nod from Harry Dudley walked after him. As Hagrid turned back to Harry, he saw Ron's shoulders begin to tremble as Dudley put a comforting arm around them.

'C'mon Harry, gotta get yeh to Dumbledore.' Hagrid gently put one of his giant arms around Harry and steered him towards the main entrance of Hogwarts. With the centaurs in tow they were approaching the main entrance when Dumbledore burst out. He gave Hagrid a look with his twinkling eyes and blinking his beetle-black ones Hagrid left the group with a small farewell. 'Be seein' yeh Harry, Professor Dumbledore sir.' When his massive arm left Harry he tottered but remained upright despite his numb feelings, he had seen Errol's attacker, the hawk above the forest.

'Welcome Firenze, I would have met you by Hagrid's but the time for hiding is over.' At this he raised his eyebrows significantly at Harry.

'Thankyou Albus Dumbledore, these are my sisters, Sienna and Cascade. It is good to see you also Harry Potter, I am sorry about your friend's owl.'

'I saw it Professor, the hawk that attacked Errol,' Harry was gabbling, 'I heard it…but, Percy sent Errol…what about Percy and London?'

At this Firenze handed Dumbledore the letter he had removed from Errol. Scanning it Dumbledore voiced his thoughts; 'Percy and London are why I am here. We will start now, Harry, go and get Viktor please.' Harry stumbled off again to the lake and missed the conversation that sent the centaurs back down to Hagrid's and Dumbledore inside the school.

As Harry approached the lake a familiar gurgling sound interrupted the dreamlike state he was in. Up ahead he saw Viktor rise abruptly with Hermione as the top mast of the Durmstrang ship rose slowly from the water. When he reached them Hermione turned with a grin that swiftly faded when she saw Harry's face, reaching for his arm she was stopped by a small gasp of disbelief from Viktor.

As the stern of the ship had risen from the water, the bow cabin had exploded in a gout of flame. Without thinking Viktor and Harry surged forwards as the rest of the ship emerged and the gangplank appeared on the shore. From her position Hermione could see several figures emerge and one began directing others down the plank but some leaped over the side instead. At the bottom Harry and Viktor were guiding the breathless students and staff while also pulling stragglers out of the lake.

When the last student was down Viktor ran up the plank to the lone figure as the tiller blew off the back with an almighty thump. After making sure no one was seriously hurt Harry ran after him to where the lone figure was standing at the top of the plank, watching the ship. As he arrived his hood fell down to reveal the face of Poliakoff, a student Harry remembered from the year before.

'Is this all of you?' he asked while looking at the bank where there were only forty or so people gathered.

'Vot? This is more than ve normally haff. Ve vere lucky only to lose two students to You-Know-Who.'

'Vait, vy are you here Stefan, ve left last year.'

'Vell who else vould be Quidditch teacher ven you left?' Poliakoff gave them a grim smile then flinched as another explosion rocked the ship. 'Ve didn't stand a chance you know, they attacked before breakfast, the students vere all assembled in the Hall, ve couldn't cover them all. There vere over vun-hundred Death Eaters, they burnt down the Institute Viktor, it's gone.' By now he was trembling with rage, but Harry could also see the sorrow in his eyes.

'I suppose we should put out the fire now?'

'No, ve vill let the ship burn, ve cannot go home now.' Viktor's voice was sharp and resolute, he met Poliakoff's eyes and the two turned down the ramp as the main mast toppled with its sails aflame. Harry briefly cast his eyes over the deck then turned and shuffled down the shuddering ramp. When he was off, the faculty and Viktor shot a beam of violet light at the ship that pushed it out into the centre of the lake. As it settled, Viktor sent a red beam that punched out a hole from the stern and with a gurgle the prow dipped under and the ship began slowly sinking into the lake.

The mast was drifting under when Dumbledore came down the hill with Professors Lupin, Snape, McGonagall and Sirius following. Off to his right Harry noticed five centaurs retreating into the forest, he thought that he saw Bane and Ronan. Viktor was slumped on the ground with Hermione who had enfolded her boyfriend in a hug as he stared vacantly out over the lake. Harry collapsed a few feet away from the couple and gazed out over the lake where bubbles rose slowly from below. Surveying the small crowd Harry noticed that most of the students were cradling injuries while a few were sobbing tearfully, as if not in belief. Thoughts from the previous year echoed in his head…_it all came back to Voldemort…who had ruined all these lives._

***

In London, there was one person who couldn't have agreed more. Throwing himself over his father's desk, Percy Weasley as a blast ripped out the window where he had been a few seconds before. A loud screaming made him looked beside him to see Marcus Flint, who had finally graduated with Percy. A piece of glass was lodged in his arm and blood was spurting out around it. Muttering Percy placed his wand on the arm to heal the wound, but he couldn't pull out the glass.

__

Please be there Errol, please be goddamned there. Another blast shook the building and Percy looked over his desk to see a Death Eater climbing in the window. With a mad yell he rose and unleashed a Stunning Spell that sent the Dark Wizard toppling onto the office floor. Grabbing Marcus's good arm he dragged him out of the office and slammed the door as the building shook again. He had barely gone down a corridor when a large explosion nearby told him the door was gone, grunting with effort he pulled Marcus down another corridor.

***

'Harry…Harry!' Dumbledore's voice snapped Harry out of his reverie, 'we need to go now, you too Viktor. Hermione will you please take the Durmstrang students and faculty to the Great Hall, Madam Pomfrey is already there.' Hermione gave Harry and Viktor a puzzled look but left obediently, with the Durmstrang crowd gone the boys and staff gathered around Dumbledore again. 'Severus, go and fetch Draco, I have had a letter meaning we must move our deadline forwards.' With this Professor Snape left for the stadium where the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game had ended with a raucous cheer. 'The rest of you with me to Hogsmeade, we must secure the village now.'

With this the staff, Harry and Viktor headed for the main gates. As they passed through Draco strode up beside Harry and Professor Snape joined Lupin at the head of the small column. As they reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade the sun began set, blood red light seeping through the clouds. The group diverged rapidly and Harry moved to the front of Honeydukes. At a nod from Dumbledore he entered the sweetshop which was full of younger children who had arrived on the train and their parents. Raising his fingers he whistled over the bustle and silence prevailed. 'Erm…could I have your attention please.'

****

Chapter 12: Hogsmeade

Throughout the village teachers had entered the shops and drawn attention, Draco had remained at the far end while Viktor remained with Dumbledore by the end nearest Hogwarts. Checking his watch for the time (despite no numbers being on the face, but instead a small printed word), Dumbledore envisioned where his faculty and Harry would be in their talks. 'So if you'll all just remain in here while the Ministry officials move through we should be out of your way pretty quickly.' With this he gave the assembled crowd a smile and walked backwards out the door. Turning he let out a deep breath and saw Sirius across the street who flashed him a large grin.

'Five minutes everyone!' rang out Dumbledore's voice.

***

Cornelius Fudge had gathered his staff in the central offices, all of which had been coated in strong repelling charms, after the Death Eaters' attacks had been intensified earlier. As curses rebounded ineffectually off the walls, floor and ceiling the last of the defenders apparated in by use of a special charm. Dust was now beginning to fall around him as the number of curses increased violently. 'You know what to do now.' With this simple phrase the Ministry wizards took up their allocated positions around the centre of the room.

Three wizards remained in the centre of the room and gathered in a triangular formation with their wands facing outwards. The Minister of Magic turned to them while looking at his watch (it too had no numbers) 'Remember–fear the worst…now!' on Fudge's command the three disapparated from the room. After they left Percy passed Marcus over to Croaker, and then the Unspeakable disapparated with the unconscious figure over his shoulders. Steadily the groups of Ministry wizards began to clear under the shaking barrage that was attacking the rooms.

***

'Now' as Dumbledore read the tiny word from his watch the first three Ministry wizards appeared in the middle of Hogsmeade's main street. They all had their wands trained on the wizards surrounding the street but on seeing the staff, boys and Dumbledore they lowered their wands and had relieved smiles on their faces. Battered and bruised they made their way to Dumbledore to greet him, then after giving him a quick brief on the situation, they moved up the hill to Hogwarts.

No sooner had they done this then two more Ministry wizards disapparated, one stumbling under the others weight. Rushing forwards Sirius grabbed Flint and conjured up a stretcher as Croaker collapsed on the floor. Lupin ran forwards to help as the first stretcher began magically floating up to the castle, as it went past Dumbledore he lent down to talk to the ex-student who gave a weak smile in return. Conjuring another stretcher Sirius and Lupin lifted Croaker up and let it float upwards.

Sirius joined Harry as another group appeared, all warily holding their wands at first, but thankfully none were injured in the group. 'Croaker had two broken ribs, but he kept going…' Sirius was speaking to Harry in a melancholy voice now. 'Remember that for me Harry, never give up.' Harry turned to face his stepfather who was giving him a steady gaze. 'We'll win, but we must never give up.' Harry nodded in agreement but couldn't restart the conversation again, as they stood in silence a constant stream of Ministry wizards apparated into Hogsmeade and with grateful faces began the walk to Hogwarts, so far the audacious escape was working.

***

Above Percy's head and throughout the office small holes were appearing, most were millimetres wide but a large chunk had been blown out by him. Swearing at the hole's appearance, Percy swung his arm up and released a Freezing Charm and was rewarded with a shout and thud. Turning to alert Fudge, he missed a sleek rat slipping in and landing agilely on three paws and a silver stump. In a flash Peter Pettigrew had appeared and as Percy turned back he gave him a wicked grin.

Before he could shout there was a flash of light and Percy was thrown across the room, his body crumpling against the far wall. Wormtail laughed maniacally at his work, but suddenly a clenched fist struck him in the side of the head, and Penelope Clearwater sent him to the floor stunned. Leaving the prone wizard she moved over to Percy who wore a peaceful, but severely dazed look. As he opened his eyes he saw a fuzzy warm smile, and then he was lifted between two people. Supported between Fudge and Penelope, Percy's head lolled as the wizards prepared to disapparate. Turning his head to the nearest figure, Percy managed a brief sentence; 'Will you marry me?' and he lapsed into unconsciousness as a laughing Penelope and extremely puzzled Fudge (forming the word _marry_ in his mouth) disapparated.

No sooner had the trio gone when the wall above Wormtail exploded inwards. With their wands raised several Death Eaters moved into the room, cape billowing around him, Voldemort emerged through the dust cloud and cast one look at Wormtail. _Pathetic_. Several bodies were sprawled on the floor, most were lifeless but one wizard still moved, despite his arm being torn in three places he feebly raised his wand. 'Hello my friend,' Voldemort swept down on the wizard and kicked his arm aside, resulting in a small multitude of breaks. 'Perhaps you can be of some help to me,' on this he reached into his sleeve and withdrew his wand and put the tip a few inches away from the wizard's forehead.

Closing his eyes Voldemort concentrated and a sharp red beam sprung out connecting his wand to the wizard. 'Where are they?' Voldemort's voice had shrunk to a harsh and sibilant croon as the wizards head began to shake violently. Sifting through the man's mind Voldemort was oblivious to the convulsions that now racked the tortured wizard's body. Eventually he found a single memory out of which sprung a single word…_Hogsmeade_. 'Damn you Dumbledore, this is your doing.' Voldemort had disconnected from the wizard who was now experiencing spasms in his wounded arm. 

'Now for you…' Voldemort began to chuckle cruelly as he raised his wand, watching the fear in the wizard's eyes grow, so much so that he missed movement in his left arm. With a grunt the wizard grabbed his wand and disapparated with a pop, leaving Voldemort putting a killing spell on the wall. 'To Hogsmeade' he said curtly, and most of the Death Eaters disapparated leaving Voldemort, a recovering Wormtail and the stench of death.

***

Harry ran forwards when he saw Percy slumped between Fudge and a Ministry witch, who Harry recognised as Penelope when he arrived. 'He tried to tackle a wall with his head' she explained and gave him a reassuring smile.

'Ah…good…Errol made it then' Percy had raised his head that was sporting a purple bruise, and Harry moved in to replace Fudge who was nursing a bruised arm. Harry waved to Lupin who jogged over to replace Harry who was struggling under Percy's weight. Harry then turned back to Fudge who was looking around with a relieved face.

'Nice to see you Harry, excellent that Dumbledore's plan worked, excellent. I see both you and Sirius were involved, good, good.' Continuing in this vein Harry and Fudge walked away from the spot where everyone had apparated in, when a sudden pop sounded behind them. Turning they saw another Ministry wizard who was cradling his wreck of an arm and warily holding his wand in his left arm. 'Weaver? We thought you were dead!'

'He knows…he's coming…'

'What, what's going on?' Harry shot Fudge an anxious glance.

'I don't know, Weaver was left, we though he was dead.' Between them they moved him over to the nearest support which was the wall of Honeydukes. 'What happened Chris? Who's coming?' By now Sirius had arrived and was leaning over Weaver, then began pointing at Harry's head when there was another pop at the apparation point. The Death Eater was facing them when Harry whipped out his wand, _'Expelliarmus'_ he cried using the first spell that entered his head.

Knocking the Dark Wizard's wand aside sent everyone else into action, Sirius drew his wand and stunned the Dark Wizard. 'Everyone to Hogwarts NOW!' Dumbledore's voice rang out as more Death Eaters appeared with a myriad of popping sounds. More chaos emerged in the form of the families who had been shopping stepping out from the stores. As spells, charms and curses began to fly, screams mingled with the fanatical shouts of Voldemort's followers.

Harry, Fudge and Sirius began to clear a way for the Hogwarts path while firing off spells and charms to defend the families running with them. Harry's vision was blurred by green light and he realised that his scar was lit again, exactly as when the Dursleys had been attacked. They were escorting the last small group of parents while the Hogwarts staff and some Ministry personnel were providing a furious cover when a large POP sounded and a mass of Death Eaters appeared in their path.

'Back, go back' Harry managed before the air was filled with the noise of curses, and he Sirius and Fudge turned tail with the parents and children. The Death Eaters had split the defence and Professors McGonagall and Snape were also trapped on Harry's side, with no hope of reaching Hogwarts, until Harry's mind gave up the most obvious thought ever. 'Quick, Minister Fudge, get everyone into Honeydukes, there's a secret passage to the castle behind all the crates of sweets in the basement, under the dust.' Fudge nodded and herded the families into the shop while Sirius and Harry covered the door. By now Hogsmeade residents had appeared on the streets and were combating with the Death Eaters, but still the favour was with the Dark Wizards.

Harry saw that Dumbledore's defence line was holding, and turned with Sirius as they heard a rally of shouts approaching them. Four Death Eaters were charging them down, unleashing curses. As they closed Harry and Sirius released Stunning Spells but only managed to take out one of the fanatical wizards. With a scream the three wizards leapt at the two defenders, two piling on Sirius and one jumping on Harry.

Sirius was experienced enough to wait until he fell before releasing a charm that threw off one of his assailants, but Harry was pinned under his as his wand went flying. The Death Eater began to choke Harry as he desperately reached for his wand, but then a sudden bang lifted the weight off his neck. Raising his head he saw Professor Snape standing there with his wand smoking from the curse he had used.

Giving Harry a sallow smile, he missed the Death Eater rising up behind him and only recognised danger when Harry's eyes widened. Before he could react the Death Eater smacked him over the head with a brick, sending the potions master to the floor with blood trickling from his nose. Fuelled with unexpected rage Harry rose quickly and disregarding his wand punched the Dark Wizard in the face and was satisfied to feel bones crunch under is knuckles.

Looking over he saw Sirius had shaken off both of his assailants and had just stunned the second one who had raised his wand at the retreating staff and residents who were closing on Honeydukes. Harry bent over Snape as McGonagall took his position in the doorway, 'Sir, can you hear me?'

'Did you get him?' came a shaky voice.

'Yes.'

'Good.' Shakily Snape rose and tottered off towards the basement entrance. Harry stood indignant, not even a thanks, but then he hadn't thanked Snape for saving his life, ever. Harry turned back with mixed emotions as Draco Malfoy dived through the door, closely followed by McGonagall and Sirius as a large explosion hit the outside of the building.

'Is there anyone else outside?' he asked Draco who gave a swift shake of his head. 'We're out of here, c'mon.' Quickly he led them down the stairs to the basement where the secret passage was opened up, Fudge's head was poking up with wand visible but he lowered it when Harry stepped past a barrel of Fizzing Whizbees. Disappearing he ran up the tunnel as Draco and McGonagall dropped down into the passage. Harry was about to jump with Sirius when a creak on the stairs made them turn, a single Death Eater had his wand aimed over Harry's heart.

Before he could react, Harry was shoved down the tunnel by Sirius, who collapsed when the Impedimenta Jinx hit him. 'Run Harry.'

'Sirius…Sirius!' but his godfather was full under the effects of the jinx and then the Death Eater's mask appeared over the edge, looking down at Harry. Instead of releasing a spell he obeyed Sirius's wishes and ran like hell. Halfway up the tunnel he met Draco who was about to ask where Sirius was when a loud voice reached their ears.

'_Erupto_' the curse rang out loud and the boys turned to each other, a low rumbling was approaching and with a mutual consensus they turned and ran. As it grew louder Harry turned and saw that the ground behind them was erupting out in a long and gaining explosion. Up ahead he saw the light of the castle corridor, running up the slope with Draco he could feel ground flying up behind their feet.

With a massive explosion of noise and earth Harry and Draco flew out of the passage entrance and landed with painful thumps. McGonagall and Fudge moved to the boys' sides while looking down the corridor. McGonagall turned to Harry, whose flushed face had tears cutting through the dirt and grime, 'Sirius…' he croaked.

A/N: There's gonna be a gap between this and chapter 5 (13-15) because I'm about to take my A-levels, plus I have to write them yet (I go on paper than type it.) Keep up the reviewing. Preview: Chapter 13 carries the title of 'Sirius'.


	5. Parts 13 - 15

****

Chapter 13: Sirius

The group was shell-shocked as they realised the enormity of what Harry had just revealed. On seeing the boys look Minerva immediately enfolded him in a hug that hid his tearful face, Snape who had been at the end of the hallway when the boys had exploded outwards had arrived in time to hear the word Harry had uttered. He visibly paled and in a second made up his mind, 'Fudge, tell Dumbledore I'll be back.' With a confused look on his face Fudge watched as Snape rolled up his sleeve to touch the Dark Mark symbol on his left arm. 'I'll be back…' with this he put his wand tip onto the mark and with a stifled cry of pain he disappeared.

With this McGonagall released Harry from her fierce embrace and pulled up the distraught boy, dusting off his robes. With Fudge's help Draco rose and dusted himself off, along the corridor were the families and residents from Hogsmeade, all looking extremely worried. 'Go and find the other teachers and Ministry wizards, tell them we're going to help Albus Dumbledore and the other Professors at the gates.' Professor McGonagall used her most officious voice to move the crowd along.

'We should go…' Draco left the statement unfinished as he watched Harry, the young wizard was trembling, but was it sadness or rage he wondered. Fudge simply nodded and walked on ahead with McGonagall leaving Harry and Draco in the deserted hall. 'Hey…Harry, you can't do anything if you stay here.' Moving forward cautiously, he saw what Harry could do with a punch, he placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a shake.

With a suddenness that caused Draco to flinch, Harry looked up and bright green eyes met ocean blue. 'Yeah, we should go…thankyou.' Harry took Draco's hand from his shoulder and grasped it in friendship as he would Ron's or Hermione's. 'We can do this.' Swiftly they left the deserted corridor where only rubble was testimony to the battle outside.

***

'Fall back, fall back!' Dumbledore shouted the orders to his staff and the battle weary Ministry wizards over the fight as he directed jinxes and hexes towards the Death Eater forces. 'Defend the path, use the walls as cover. Make sure the families and residents are safe then fall back.' A sudden explosion of earth caused Dumbledore to duck as both Death Eaters and the Hogwarts defenders were showered with mud and rubble.

Shaking off lose earth from his cloak, Dumbledore rose and saw that Honeydukes was gone, and a single Death Eater was retreating with a still form. Shaking with anger Dumbledore shot a stunning spell that knocked the Death Eater back ten yards. While he was directing the front he had seen his Professors and Harry retreat into the building with some of the families and Draco, more lives lost to the whim of a madman.

As sudden as the cease of fire began spells and jinxes flew through the air again, Dumbledore stood amidst it all calmly loosing off charms that cut into the Death Eater ranks with deadly force. This thought obviously occurred to the Death Eaters as several turned and rapidly loosed several beams of red energy at the elderly wizard. Dumbledore quietly stood, ready to meet a dignified death.

***

'Harry, what's going on?'

'Professor, was that Albus I saw?' shrugging off the questions that bombarded McGonagall, Fudge, Harry and Draco sped down corridors, pushing students and parents aside, ignoring the shouts of other teachers.

'Oi, Harry, what's going on?' ignoring the voice Harry continued running until the owner pulled up beside him. 'I said oi!' Dudley gave Harry a cheeky grin as he ran, but it soon faded when he saw the pain and anger in his eyes.

'Death Eaters in the village, attacked the Ministry in London, we got them out here but they were followed…' he wanted to go on but he couldn't mention Sirius. 'Get help, use the teachers and Ministry officials who are here.' With this he ran on and Dudley turned round to run into the nearest classroom.

***

With bonebreaking impact Dumbledore was borne to the floor by the tackle of Remus Lupin, 'Don't ever do that again Albus, I can't always have super reflexes.' He smiled grimly as the elderly wizards were pinned under a crossed pattern of red beams.

'Thank you Remus, now shall we do something about those rather annoying fellows?' Dumbledore returned the smile and with a familiar twinkle in his eyes he rose to return fire with a blue beam that picked off another Death Eater. But his beam was not the only one, and several Death Eaters were felled as Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge led a mad charge down towards the battle.

***

Sirius awoke with a start, he vaguely remembered being stunned after the Impedimenta Charm had hit him, where the hell was he now? With a small groan he raised himself enough to see that there was an unconscious Death Eater beside him. Slowly turning he searched the wizard's pockets and found his wand in the robes, then he swivelled his head as several loud bangs caught his attention.

Rising he saw Fudge's charge down the hill with members of staff previously uninvolved in Dumbledore's evacuation plan. He saw as Professor Sinistra, screaming wildly, jumped over a stooped Dumbledore to kick a Death Eater full on in the face. Minuscule Professor Flitwick appeared at the knees of two front row Death Eaters and used a binding charm to crack their heads together.

Sirius rose as a cheer sounded from the Hogwart's lines, the Death Eaters were running, many were apparating away from the battle. Raising his wand Sirius prepared to stun some of the fleeing Death Eaters when he was enveloped in a blue light of a Stunning Charm. The Death Eater Dumbledore had stunned before the fightback had begun lowered his wand as another Death Eater apparated in beside him.

'Help me with this one, he'll interest the master.' Behind his mask Severus Snape was seething with fury at being too late, he couldn't attack the other Death Eater without blowing his cover. Angry at the situation he had been put in, Snape lifted Sirius by one arm and with a swift glance towards sanctuary of Hogwarts, he cursed fortune and disapparated from the scene.

***

'SIRIUS!'

'SIRIUS BLACK!'

'PADFOOT!'

Throughout the ruins of Honeydukes, Lupin, Fudge, Dumbledore and other Ministry or staff members were searching for their fallen comrade. Dumbledore suddenly froze and asked another question that had been niggling at him; 'Has anyone seen Severus?'. There was a general shaking of heads until Cornelius Fudge spoke.

'I saw him after Harry got us out, when he heard Sirius was missing he disapparated in the castle…but he couldn't have?!'

'Did he say anything?' Dumbledore pressed on, he knew how Severus had got out.

'He said to tell you he would be back.' Fudge repeated the message with a confused look again. 'Back from where Dumbledore? Where did he go and how did he get there?'

'He left by use of a Summoning Charm invented by Voldemort, he's gone to be a spy again.' Dumbledore spoke the words loud enough for everyone to hear. A soft mewing attracted his attention and he turned to where a tabby cat had emerged from a tunnel in the rubble. 'What do you have Minerva?' when he arrived he was given a scrap of robe by McGonagall. 'No body?' a swift shake from McGonagall allowed most people to breathe a sigh of relief, Dumbledore swore vehemently, this was unknown for him. 'Voldemort has him…'

***

'_Crucio'_

Sirius awoke in more pain then he ever could have imagined, unbidden his mind returned to when he was caught by the aurors, and one of them had put him under the Cruciatus Curse. Then Bartemius Crouch had sentenced him without trial and for twelve years he had been in Azkaban. _Amazing how you think of trivial things when under such pain_ his conscious nudged him, and Sirius's eyes snapped open.

'Ah good, the prisoner is awake.' Sirius looked up and saw the face from hell, then he wished he was asleep again. 'Sirius Black, Pettigrew's scapegoat, my greatest asset for a while!' this last comment was an insult to Sirius and a good joke for the assembled Death Eaters, except for one. 'I have a friend here for you Black.'

__

Get up Padfoot. The dreamy voice in Sirius's head was correct, he should get up _and turn around while you're at it._ Sirius turned and felt the dreamy state leave him as he faced the sniggering wizard who had been casting the Imperius Curse on him. A snarl formed on Sirius and he drew back a fist when Pettigrew's silver replacement slammed into the side of his head.

The Death Eaters cheered as Sirius went flying and landed in a foetal position. Pettigrew raised his hands triumphantly and strode over to where Sirius was on his hands and feet, then delivered a powerful kick to the gasping wizard. Sirius took the kick and rolled then managed to stand up and defiantly spat out blood that had formed on his lips.

Frowning Pettigrew drew his wand again but Voldemort's voice cut through. _'Accio wand,_ I think we'll make this a fair fight Wormtail.' Instead of the usual spurning feeling Pettigrew got from his nickname he simply advanced on Sirius with his fists raised. Another reeling smack from his silver arm sent Sirius flying into one of the walls that enclosed Voldemort and his assembled followers. Sirius slowly rose leaning on the wall for support as Pettigrew closed again, he could feel two broken ribs and something was spouting out blood internally. Another punch sent him flying.

***

'Harry, are you feeling better?' Ron knew the answer was no, but he needed his friend to talk. 'Sirius will be okay, Snape's gone after him.' Still a stony silence met him from the slumped figure in the armchair. After the battle for Hogsmeade the Ministry wizards and Hogwarts attendees had retreated to the castle so no Death Eaters could launch surprise attacks against them. Most of the teachers had retreated with Dumbledore and the high echelon Ministry officials for a council of war, Harry, Viktor and Draco had returned to their respective common rooms.

None of the pupils except for the three boys knew about the outside situation, all they knew was that Voldemort had tried to attack their parents, most were scared, but some were mad. Harry was in a state of shock with a deep rage beneath him, Voldemort had done it again, he'd taken away one of the only precious possessions Harry had…his godfather…his father. Clearing his throat Harry challenged Ron's statement. 'How do you know he's okay? How can we know anything?'

Ron couldn't answer and he knew Harry didn't want any excuse he could have put forward, instead he just stared into the blazing fire. The rest of Gryffindor house had questioned Harry and Viktor the second they had entered, but luckily Ron and Dudley had pulled Harry out to a chair where he had remained unmoved. After the initial bustle Viktor had bought Hermione over, explained the situation and that evening's events, then he had announced Sirius's disappearance to the friends. Now Harry just sat brooding as the rest of the common room was alive with rumours and whispers, eventually Ron left Harry alone to be with his thoughts.

***

Draco Malfoy was alone with his thoughts in the depleted common room as well, few knew of his role in the earlier battle. Most of the Slytherins were still in support of the restored Voldemort, only Draco and a select few were not, but they didn't show this. He knew that most of the Slytherins were in contact with the forces of darkness, or at least their parents were.

He knew that apart from himself, only Percy Bole, Terrence Higgs, and all but Derrick from the Slytherin Quidditch team were trustworthy. Only that close knit group had been easy enough for Draco to convince, which was why derrick no longer played for them. Draco gave a short laugh as he remembered 'accidentally' breaking the Beater's arm during the confusion on the train so that he wouldn't be near the group. He forced a laugh as Pansy Parkinson imitated a weeping Harry who had run past in the corridor, god he'd like to smack her one…

***

Sirius was thinking the exact same thing as he rose with one eye almost swollen shut from the last blow. Again he spat defiantly, then ducked as Wormtail's fist flew into the wall with the force of a small blast. Sirius ducked away but tripped over Wormtail's cloak as he tried to regain his feet. Looking up he saw a thin-lipped smile on Voldemort's face, heard his high pitched laugh.

As Wormtail was looking at his master, Sirius seized his opportunity and punched him in the one place that would give him a moments to breathe. Wormtail's head snapped back with blood flowing from the broken nose Sirius had given him. Taking his opportunity further, Sirius followed with a short kick to the stumbling wizard's knee, and was satisfied with Wormtail's high pitched scream and the crack that met his ears.

As the tables began to turn Voldemort's thin smile faded and a look of malicious glee appeared as he raised his wand. _'Expelliarmus'_ the sound rang out and Sirius was sent flying as the disarming spell threw him out of his shoes. 'Whoops, I guess his body was the weapon.' He laughed again and was joined by a chorus of Death Eaters as Wormtail bore down on Sirius once more. 'Now Wormtail, start winning, I can't be such an understanding official if my team loses.'

'Fair fight my arse.' Sirius mumbled as he unsteadily rose up against the wall he fell against. The back of his head was bleeding now, he could feel a trickle of blood down his neck. _I need a wand, and that prat has mine._ While the Death Eaters wore similar masks, Sirius had noticed a white patch on the robe of the Dark Wizard who had stunned him twice.

Formulating a plan he ducked under another wild swing from the silver hand, then apparently stumbled close to the throng of Death Eaters. He was two feet away when he managed to stop himself and turned to face Wormtail as the silver fist caught him full in the stomach. However he had been expecting it and jumped back with the fist, landing in the arms of the Death Eater behind him and letting Wormtail stumble forwards.

Once he was there Sirius moved into action, a swift elbow left the Death Eater who had caught him gasping for breath and a kick in the face sent Wormtail sprawling with more blood pumping from his face. Most of the Death Eaters were frozen except for those far away from the event, the Death Eater who had his wand and Snape. For a few seconds nothing happened…

****

Chapter 14: Traitors Within

Back in the common room Harry's scar shone green, eyes closed in sleep he missed it, but Neville, who had been lingering throughout the prior conversations gave a small gasp, as an image flashed through his mind. 'Harry, it's up again,' his pointing finger was all Harry needed to know something was wrong. Without a word to anyone he immediately went for the portrait hole but Neville followed and Ron rose when he saw them retreat rapidly.

Harry ignored both the following boys who shared looks of concern and confusion as he ran away from the Fat Lady. Within a few minutes he was at the familiar gargoyle and yelling 'Cockroach Cluster!' so that it leaped to one side, admitting not only him but also Neville and Ron who had managed to keep up. Without using the moving stairs Harry ran for the wooden door and began thumping as Neville and Ron arrived.

The door sprung open and they saw Lupin standing with a bemused look on his face, that swiftly faded when he saw the scar. He gazed into Harry's eyes and almost immediately knew what was wrong, 'Padfoot…', with a gesture he moved the secret passage open and with the boys in tow he ran to what was now the war room. Instead of knocking the wizard just burst through to find Dumbledore, Fudge, Mr. Weasley and Professor McGonagall gathered around the desk. Before any of them could speak Harry, with his increasingly bright scar, burst out:

'Something's gonna happen now.'

***

Snape wasn't sure who was more surprised, himself, the Death Eater in front of him or Sirius; with a sigh the stunned wizard collapsed as Snape lowered the wand in his hands. 'SEVERUS!' Voldemort's voice was a high pitched fury as he watched him calmly hand Sirius his wand, 'get him you bungling fools!'. Before the nearest Death Eaters could react Sirius and Severus were sending out multiple beams of blue light that were causing Death Eaters to drop around them in droves.

Wormtail had been lying winded when the shooting had begun and rose with his silver fist to deliver a punishing uppercut to the Death Eater that was pushed in his path. _'Reducto'_ cried Sirius and the blasting curse sent Pettigrew flying across the room, hitting the far wall with a crack that suggested some of his ribs had gone. There were far more Death Eaters in close now and curses flew from everywhere, 'Severus,' Sirius shouted over the din, 'We've got to disapparate.'

'We need to get out of the room, you can't disapparate in here, _Stupefy!'_ Snape replied with a grunt of effort in kicking an approaching Dark Wizard in the face. 'Go for one of the walls, I'll clear us a path,' with this the duo turned and ran while holding temporary Shield Charms around them. On reaching the wall Snape dodged behind Sirius while he held up the charm, then as the Death Eaters approached rapidly Snape emerged from behind Sirius with his wand raised and hollered a single word.

__

'ERUPTO!' and then the ground in front of the duo shot upwards. The wall of earth hit the front row of Death Eaters with the force of a small bomb, and their bodies flew across the room, smacking limply into the wall. The tide continued onwards knocking more Dark Wizards left, right and centre, while all Voldemort could do was cast a Shield Charm over himself as the ceiling collapsed over his seat.

Running behind the tide of earth the two wizards ran and leapt over fallen Death Eaters while sending of charms and jinxes at anything else that moved. All Voldemort could do was watch through a hole in the dirt around him as Sirius and Severus ran out of the room and into a tunnel, from which an echoing pop sounded. Cursing and spitting with rage, Voldemort sent the Cruciatus Curse out of his wand at any Death Eater who showed their face above the earth.

***

As suddenly as it had appeared Harry's scar stop glowing a few seconds after he had blurted out the sentence. Everyone was in silence as Harry's eyes traced their looking for the slightest hint of what was happening before they came to rest on Dumbledore. Before the wizard could speak Neville burst out. 'Just what the hell is going on?' he flushed slightly at his outburst in front of the teachers but it was a fair question.

'What the hell indeed!' muttered Mr. Weasley, then avoided Ron's stare.

'Dad, what's wrong with Harry?' his son was too sharp not to notice the obvious glance away.

'Nothing is wrong with Harry, Mr. Weasley,' at last Dumbledore's voice cut into the conversation. 'His scar means that Voldemort and his forces are up to something, or were…Harry?'

'It was Sirius, they were doing something to Sirius,' Harry was speaking slowly, 'I-I…they…I think they killed him.' Tears were threatening to appear but as his throat burned he held them back and kept his gaze firmly rested on Dumbledore who as gazing back. A stifled sob was heard from Professor McGonagall, despite her usual strict appearance, always had feelings for people.

Harry too was close to letting his true emotions show when Dumbledore spoke again. 'I refuse to believe Sirius is dead, or I would have heard by now. As you know Severus Snape is spying for us again, he would have returned alone had Sirius been killed.'

'How do you know he just hasn't turned up yet, he could still be there with Voldemort and his scum.' Ron was surprised at his outburst but continued, 'Snape may not be able to leave, Sirius could be lying in front of him and he couldn't do anything about it.'

***

As it was, Severus Snape was lying in front of Sirius, the fact he himself was on the floor was a reason for concern though. 'I guess we rushed that too much,' came Sirius's voice that hinted at pain, 'where are we?' It was dark now, Severus estimated it had been about two hours since the attack. Achingly he rose and looked around before bending over to help a groaning Sirius to his feet. 'It sucks when all the adrenaline leaves, I can feel my feet again though.'

'We're near Diagon Alley,' Severus answered Sirius's first question in a hushed voice, 'to be precise we're outside Borgin and Burkes.' After uttering the sentence Severus withdrew his wand, Sirius followed suit with another question:

'Where is everyone?' up ahead they could see Diagon Alley but there was no sign of anyone in the usually bustling magical alley. Slowly the two wizards walked, and limped, forward until they had emerged from Knockturn Alley. The place was truly deserted, even all the animals in the Magical Menagerie were gone, then there was a sudden banging from the shop to their left, and in a flurry of robes a wizard flew out the front door, only to stop a yell when he ran into Snape.

'AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHH!'

'Calm down.' Amazingly the words did indeed do that for the wizard, and instead he stood there breathing heavily, watching Severus and Sirius. 'Now,' Sirius continued, 'where is everybody?'

'What happened to you, you look like hell.'

'Thank you, but what happened to everybody?'

'Gone.'

'Gone?' Snape interjected with raised eyebrows.

'Yeah, they all left, it's not safe, the Ministry blew up this afternoon.'

'We know, all the staff are at Hogwarts.'

'Wow, we assumed they'd all been killed, there haven't been owls home or anything.'

'That's because Voldemort's been killing them all.' Sirius replied calmly but the name put the wizard into a fit of panic.

'You said his name, are you absolutely bloody mad?' he was wildly looking at the two of them now. 'Is that why you're all beat up, they'll be after you, bugger this for a game of soldiers.' And with that remark he was gone, leaving Sirius and Severus in his dust.

'He's right you know, he's gonna be here soon.'

'Lets disapparate to Hogsmeade then, we'll get back to Hogwarts and Dumbledore, he's sure to have a plan.' With a swift incantation the two wizards disapparated leaving the deserted alley behind, a few seconds after they left a myriad of pops sounded and a group of Death Eaters emerged from Knockturn Alley.

'They're not here,' snarled the leader, 'they must have gone to Hogsmeade, we'll go there and help the others.'

***

'You're right of course Mr. Weasley, I don't know if Sirius is alive, but until I hear otherwise…' Dumbledore left the sentence unfinished. 'Now, if you boys wouldn't mind leaving me and Harry, if the rest of you could leave as well, this council is over, now we wait…' with Lupin in the lead the group left, Mr. Weasley steering out an anxious Ron by the shoulder, while Neville walked alongside Professor McGonagall.

'Your scar alerted you then…how long was it alit Harry?'

'Few minutes,' was the mumbled reply.

'Then Sirius is either unconscious somewhere or he is no longer with Voldemort.'

'You mean he's escaped.'

'No, he is simply somewhere away from Voldemort, he could be anywhere, including under lock and key in a cell somewhere.' Dumbledore was looking at Harry with his piercing gaze in place, 'I know you're worried, but you must remain focused on what's happening here Harry, I, we need you.'

'Why, what makes me so special?'

'You probably know more about Voldemort than anyone, including me, you've faced him several times and won, even against the most extreme odds. Harry you are a symbol of everything we stand for, and it's not well received when you mope around in front of a fire.'

'How did you–' then Harry saw the Marauder's Map over Dumbledore's shoulder.

'Comes in useful doesn't it.' Dumbledore gave Harry a grin, and his twinkling eyes shone. 'Now Harry, I want you to go back to Gryffindor common room, and stay there. Don't go anywhere else, I feel that all this conflict will be coming to a head soon.' On this he walked round the desk and led Harry to the door with a comforting arm around his shoulders.

Shutting the door Dumbledore sighed, Harry was in a state of shock even though he didn't know it. Sirius and Severus would be back, Dumbledore would stake Merlin's beard on it, _and they're probably strolling up the main path…right…now._ Dumbledore's jaw dropped as 'Sirius Black' and 'Severus Snape' came haring up the main path on the map. As they covered the first few inches of parchment several other dots ran on; _'Macnair – Avery – Nott – Crabbe – Goyle'_, Harry's list from the pervious year echoed in Dumbledore's head. _Harry_.

Dumbledore glanced at the map and saw the boy had just reached his office, where 'Remus Lupin' and 'Arthur Weasley' were still talking. Grabbing his wand from the desk Dumbledore took off at a surprising speed for a wizard no longer at his peak of physical prowess, he reached the secret door in one minute and burst through as Harry was preparing to leave. 'Main path, Sirius and Severus, NOW!' shouting orders he led the wizards and Harry out past the gargoyle and into the hallway.

***

'Run faster, I thought you were supposed to be in your prime!' Sirius shot Severus a withered glance as the two ran like hell up the path to the school. Explosions were miraculously close to them but none managed to hit the two, 'Can't you change, you'll get there faster!'

'And leave you to get killed, you'd never forgive me for that one!' Severus gave a laugh at the reference to his encounter with a changed Lupin after Sirius had sent him into the Shrieking Shack. They were two hundred yards away when a lucky Death Eater strike landed directly behind the fleeing duo, the resulting explosion sent the two wizards flying ahead fifty yards.

The two had unsteadily risen to see the group of Death Eaters only a hundred yards away, and were ready to go down blazing when an explosion of light behind them sent the group flying in every direction. 'INTO THE CASTLE!' Dumbledore roared the order before Harry could greet his godfather, and the five wizards swiftly retreated as the Dark Wizards rose and began to charge forwards. 'Arthur, get everyone alerted using the announcement charm, it's about to begin!'

***

Deep in the Slytherin dungeon, and throughout the school, the explosions were heard causing murmurs of excitement to bubble up. 'Now is the time my friends,' Clarence Bulstrode, seventh year brother of Millicent, had risen, 'our Lord Voldemort has come to free us from the oppression of Hogwarts and Dumbledore. Our orders are to attack from the main entrance, let in our Death Eater comrades and then kill or capture all opposition, if you see Potter, get him alive…lets go!'

As the Slytherins made for the exit there was a loud BANG and a cloud of smoke appeared containing six shadowy forms. As it cleared there was a silence as Draco, Terrence, Percy, Geoffrey Warrington, Adrian Pucey and Robert Montague appeared from within. Draco's blue eyes flashed menacingly; 'Going somewhere?'

****

Chapter 15:

__

'ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS, PROFESSORS AND MINISTRY OFFICIALS AND CURRENT RESIDENTS OF HOGWARTS.' Arthur Weasley's voice blared throughout the school. _'WILL ALL THOSE WITHOUT A PREVIOUS NOTICE PLEASE REPORT TO THE GREAT HALL, EVERYONE ELSE, TO YOUR POSITIONS PLEASE. I REPEAT…'_ The rest of the announcement was lost in the Slytherin common room as it exploded in a mix of hexes, charms, jinxes and curses.

Most of the Slytherins opposing Draco's small group didn't have their wands to hand, as such only a few could fire back when the six boys released their stunning charms. Unluckily the smoke was still hazy and only two sixth years went under, then the rest of the common room had their wands out and an intense firefight began. The Quidditch team dove for cover in the long room as soon as they had fired their first volley.

Above the noise Draco could hear Clarence's voice; 'You'll pay for this one Malfoy!' then it disappeared among a cacophony of spells. Draco sneaked a look over the chair he had flipped over to size up the situation, there were six in his force and about twenty in the enemy, not counting the ones that were down. Cursing his misfortune Draco fired off a Reductor Curse that threw a table onto the Bulstrode siblings as they tried to advance.

__

You better be handling this elsewhere Potter.

***

Fortunately for Harry there wasn't much he could do at the moment, only watch the front door for any more signs of Death Eater movement. Since Sirius and Severus had arrived back in the school the charging Dark Wizards had turned tail and fled back to the main gate. Dumbledore had muttered something about 'reinforcements' but Harry hadn't caught the rest of the conversation he held with Minister Fudge who'd come haring out of the hall when Mr. Weasley had used the announcement charm. 

Most of the school had immediately responded, and without complaint students and parents were shepherded into the Great Hall. A few of the Professors still didn't know what was going on and so Dumbledore was now holding conference with Professors Sprout and Trelawney, who kept shooting anxious glances at Harry. As he looked out of the door Harry was aware that someone had joined him and turned to a familiar face.

'Dobby…what are you doing here?' Harry asked incredulously.

'I is wanting to see what is happening Harry Potter, how is you sir?' wide and adoring eyes turned on Harry.

'Well…fine considering the school's under attack, they nearly killed my godfather and my scar keeps turning green.'

'You is doing fine then sir?' all of Harry's humour was wasted on the house elf.

'Yes Dobby, I'm fine, how are you?'

'I is fine also, except someone is making an awful ruckus in the castle, they is sending spells and curses everywhere. I is having to work very hard to earn my wages from Dumbledore.'

'Yes, I suppose you would have to – wait there are spells and curses being sent in the castle – right now?'

'Yes indeed there is sir.'

'Where?' Harry was almost shouting now.

'In Mr. Snape's common room sir.'

'BLOODY HELL!' Harry's voice echoed through the hall and he coughed embarrassingly as Dumbledore turned with an eyebrow raised. 'Sir, there's a firefight in the Slytherin common room!' now his eyebrow was down as he took command of the situation.

'Harry, get Professor Flitwick, Viktor and a few Ministry officials, then come after me, Dobby watch the door please.' Harry ran to obey Dumbledore's instructions as the elderly wizard headed for the Slytherin common room. He ran inside the Great Hall and used the Sonorus Charm to get all the members Dumbledore had asked for and three Ministry wizards.

'We've got to go to the Slytherin common room,' he explained while they ran, 'there's a firefight going on.' Within a few minutes they had reached the bare patch of wall.

'We don't know the password though,' Professor Flitwick squeaked on arriving, 'How do we get in?'

'Salazar.' Harry said in a commanding voice and the stone wall parted, 'friends in low places,' he said with a wink to Viktor. The grin threatening to make an appearance on Viktor's face rapidly lost its momentum as a beam of red light lanced out of the gap that had opened, gouging out a bit of the wall behind him. 'Let's go!'

With this Harry led the small force threw the door and into a blaze of colours from spells that immediately converged on the small group. With a cry one of the Ministry wizards flew out the door as several golden beams hit him in the stomach. 'Flitwick,' Dumbledore's voice sounded over the noise, 'I need you to use every single charm you have to cut off their attack route.' As Harry looked around he saw Draco crouching behind a chair as spells ripped apart the cushion on the other side.

__

At least the odds are more even now thought the Slytherin boy, it was now about two Slytherins to every defender. As he watched for more incoming spells he saw Professor Flitwick, who had been standing in cover behind a chair, send a violet beam into the ceiling. Spells flew in from the Slytherin half of the common room and with a large thump Montague was sent flying as an armchair leapt into him.

Draco raced over to the boy as more spells ripped his armchair to pieces, then turned with his wand raised, ready to defend his fallen friend. He didn't have to. Flitwick's charm had metamorphosed the ceiling and it was slowly lowering to form a new wall between the defence force and the attackers. 'Wait,' he shouted, 'you'll kill them all, they won't be able to breathe in there.' They might not be his friends, but Draco had spent four years of his life with most of the people now shooting at him.

'It's okay Draco, they can make it out through the windows, we just have to stop them getting into the castle this way.' Dumbledore's voice was full of reassurance as the new wall landed with a thump. 'Right, Harry help him with Robert, we'll pick up Harris on the way out.' As they lifted Montague, Harry and Draco heard loud thumping noises from behind the wall, then were alarmed to see a glowing red spot appear in the centre.

'Oh…bugger.' Draco chose his words perfectly, for a second later melted brickwork sprung in every direction and the red face of Clarence Bulstrode put in an appearance. With a snarl he whipped out his wand and aimed it over Draco's heart, Harry could see him forming the words for the Killing Curse and threw himself away from Draco.

Instead with a mad yell he put his foot firmly in the face of Clarence, whose nose erupted in blood and eyes glazed over slowly. Puffing slightly from the leap he turned to face Draco; 'Now we're even,' he said with a small grin. Draco nodded a thanks and between them they hefted Montague as Clarence's head began rhythmically hitting the brickwork as the Slytherins behind the wall tried to pull him back in.

Ignoring the temptation to laugh Harry and Draco swiftly pulled their load out the entrance and into the passage where Viktor took the boy over his shoulders. 'They're breaking through the wall Professor,' Draco said as Dumbledore turned to leave.

'Are you sure?' the question was asked by Flitwick, and not a surprised looking Dumbledore. 'I put an enchantment on that, nothing should be able to get through it.' The Charms Professor looked almost shell-shocked to hear that his work had failed, 'what did it look like when they broke through?'

'It went molten, then exploded outwards,' Harry replied, 'it was like a flame-thrower had been set on it.'

'Right, I'll handle it from here, Flitwick would you go up to the hall and tell Minerva we have a possible breach.' Dumbledore rushed orders as Draco was about to ask Harry just what a flame-thrower was, instead the boys began to accompany Professor Flitwick, the students and Ministry wizards to the hall. 'Harry, could you stay here a second.' As the rest of the group left Harry returned to Professor Dumbledore's side where he asked him an odd question, 'what's the time?'

Harry looked at his watch, 'about nine-thirty, sir' he replied.

'Thank you Harry, you can go now.' With a puzzled look Harry left the elderly wizard to turn his wand on the secret entrance and unleash a ruby spell, while muttering under his breath the entire time. Harry remembered briefly a conversation with Percy from his first day…_He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes…_it seemed to be catching up with the ex-headmaster.

Arriving a few minutes after the rest of the group Harry found the Great Hall was packed full to the brim, students, Ministry wizards, younger children, parents and professors dominated the floor. His sharp eyes picking them out, Harry saw that most of the Gryffindors were crowded round the house table, and that Ron, Dudley, Neville, Hermione and Viktor had gathered at one end.

'I von't tell you.' Viktor's sharp statement finished as Harry arrived.

'Tell them what?'

'What's going on!' Ron almost shouted, his face was shining from trying to find out. 'Sirius is gone, Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade, my dad is blaring over the school about 'assigned positions', your scar keeps going green…' as he trailed off Harry noticed his friends angry look also hid one of concern.

'Well for a start Sirius and Snape are back, they just ran up the main path while being pursued by a mob of angry Death Eaters.' Harry's voice was so calm that he could have announced the end of the world, but the edges of his mouth were threatening to expose a grin at Ron's face. 'Why not tell them everything Viktor, they'd probably find out sooner or later.'

'But vot about vot Dumbledore told us?'

'It's not exactly a major secret anymore is it,' Harry responded while gesturing at the crowd within the hall, 'I bet half the parents have told the other half what happened at Hogsmeade, the Ministry wizards have told their families and all the students will just listen to the rumours.' He smiled as Viktor's became one of defeat, and with a nod he gave Harry the go ahead.

'Okay guys, here's how it goes; Voldemort's been launching attacks all over the world against the Ministry's everywhere, they've come under a siege according to Dumbledore. Our Ministry was attacked earlier and is probably in ruins now, but we got most of the officials out by having them all apparate to Hogsmeade, including Percy, so don't worry Ron. Anyway, loads of Death Eaters showed up and we had to fight our way out, but at Hogsmeade where I sent most people up the tunnel, a Death Eater tried to capture me but Sirius took the shot.'

Harry paused for breath now as the group took on different reactions, Viktor was just nodding, Ron was looking gobsmacked, Hermione was remaining as calm as she could manage, and Neville had to sit down. 'When I met Draco in the tunnel, he's on our side by the way, the Death Eater sent a curse that made it blow up and we came flying out of the hag's hump. Snape heard me say Sirius was gone and then he disapparated, using a special Summoning Charm Voldemort created Hermione,' he added as she was about to argue her oldest point, 'then about ten minutes ago Snape and Sirius appeared, we saved them. The Death Eaters are now waiting for reinforcements and all but six of the Slytherins are stuck in their dungeon because Draco and his team stopped them from getting into the school to attack us. Right now though, Dumbledore is guarding the entrance because they're breaking through Flitwick's charm and then he asked me the time and now I'm here.'

'But…wha…why…huh?' Ron's spluttering did Harry the world of good and he laughed out loud, and was surprised when Viktor also joined in. Hermione gave her boyfriend a disapproving look but then she returned to running the entire conversation over in her head, before attempting to ask another question. Sure enough it was only an attempt because Neville got in first:

'What _is_ the time Harry?' he asked in a slightly stressed voice, 'exactly if you don't mind.'

'You too?' he pulled out his watch and read from the screen, 'nine thirty-five and twenty seven seconds precisely if you must know.'

'That's a diggytal watch isn't it?' Neville asked as he got a look at it.

'Digital, yes.'

'And it's still working in school.' Neville was now running through slowly and Hermione let out a small gasp.

'Yes again, why?'

'I have to find a teacher…' Neville left abruptly with Harry looking exasperated.

'I dunno, a Prefects badge over the summer and he's turned into a right little Action Man.' Hermione gave a little chuckle at this, while Ron turned to Dudley to ask just exactly what an 'Action Man' was.

Swallowing her laughter Hermione turned to speak with Harry. 'You know your watch shouldn't be working, that's why he's gone,' at Harry's bemused face she gave her sigh of tortured genius, 'remember last year when I explained Rita Skeeter couldn't have bugged you…?'

'Oh yeah, because all Muggle stuff goes mad around the school.' Realisation dawned on Harry's face, and he glanced at his watch at the same time Dudley looked down on his own.

'Mine's been working since we got here, are you sure that's right Hermione?' Dudley asked the question of her innocently

'Stop now,' Ron interjected, 'it's right enough, she's read the school's history book so many times that you'd be a fool to challenge her.' With absolute delight on her face, Hermione raised her nose in mock snootiness.

'I'm feeling brilliant, give me a hug Viktor.' With a small laugh he obliged while the boys fell about with laughter at her turn of phrase. 'There's one thing that bothers me about it though, if you've got electric things working, that means that the Muggle protection systems are failing, no wonder Neville left to tell someone.'

'Does that mean all Muggle devices will work?' Harry asked the question with a great deal of unease, that worsened when Hermione nodded back in reply. 'I was right…shit.' The use of the language was enough to make everyone turn to face Harry, 'I said that it looked like a flame-thrower was being used on the wall trapping the Slytherins, I could be right. Dumbledore's still down there by himself.'

'Ve go now.' Viktor was already up and moving for the exit from the Great Hall before the sentence was finished. Harry's mind was in a whirl as he, his friends and cousin followed Viktor out of the hall, Dumbledore was facing a flame-thrower, and Draco hadn't even known what one was! As Harry they left the hall Harry noticed Neville, Professors McGonagall and Lupin, Fudge and Mr. Weasley heading up the main stairs.

'Neville!' he shouted, 'where are you going?' but he didn't get a reply as the group was already out of sight. Moving down the corridor to the Slytherin common room, a roaring sound told him he had more to worry about.

***

Albus Dumbledore ducked as a lick of flame spurted out of the melting wall and charred the wall behind him with a roar of heat. He was glad his theory about the school's protective field breaking down was correct, nothing else would surprise him at least.

He was wrong.

A massive roar sounded again and instead of the ugly snout of a flame-thrower, thankfully he knew much more about the Muggle world than anyone gave him credit, he saw the ugly snout of something with very large teeth.

***

Neville was in a daze similar to Harry's at the sudden weight his opinions carried, after all he was only a Prefect, but then so was Harry. Following the professors down a corridor he almost collided with Lupin when they stopped in front of a portrait he warily recognised. 'Halt scurvy knaves!' came the voice of Sir Cadogan, the mad knight who had guarded the Gryffindor tower during year three.

'Enough of that,' McGonagall snapped, 'Open up Sir Knight!' and on this phrase the pompous knight's frame swung forwards revealing a passage Neville had never realised was there before. 'Come on everyone, you too Longbottom.' The passage was a short one, after about fifteen feet they had reached a door which was inscribed with Latin: _armatura de castellum._

'What does that mean?' he blurted out loud, actually intending to ask the question in his head.

'It means that in this room,' Professor Lupin said soberly as he opened the door, 'is the castle armoury.' The door moved aside to reveal a long chamber that reminded Neville of a picture he'd seen in a Muggle studies book, there were angrybows, kattapults and swords, all in a row. 'The time has come to defend.'


	6. Parts 16 - 18

****

Chapter 16: A Time to Defend

Defence was the first and only thing on Albus Dumbledore's mind as he threw himself out of the Slytherin common room, swiftly followed by another burst of flame. Lying face down he was pleased to realise he had been right about the magical field breaking down, he was not pleased with his supposition it was a flame-thrower that the Slytherins held. Behind him he heard the intake of breath as the dragon on the other side of the wall prepared to release a gout of flame again. _'Impedimenta!'_ the Freezing Charm was released and the breath held, but he hadn't cast it.

He saw Viktor, Harry, Ron, Dudley and Hermione running down the corridor, a thin wisp of smoke trailing from Hermione's outstretched wand. 'Excellent work, Miss Granger, I see you found out about Harry's watch then,' there was a mischievous glint in his eyes as he said this, Harry suspected Dumbledore knew all along they were coming. 'Let's go, I can't think of a dragon containing charm yet.'

'There isn't one sir.' Hermione said quickly.

'Reliable as ever Miss Granger,' Dumbledore shot her a smile, 'we should definitely go then. Harry, did you see if Professor Flitwick spoke to Professor McGonagall?'

'Yeah,' Harry replied as they began to move off, 'she left quickly with Neville, Professor Lupin, Minister Fudge and Mr. Weasley.' Behind him he heard a slow hissing that entered the corridor. 'Um…how long does that Freezing Jinx last Hermione?'

'Not long, why?' as she spoke a jet of flame shot into the corridor and began to spread. 'Oh…' with this small speech the group turned and ran for the Entrance Hall, as they neared the connecting passage Harry saw Professor McGonagall appear holding what looked like a crossbow.

'MOVE MINERVA' Dumbledore shouted at his deputy as they ran, the fireball growing larger behind them. However she didn't duck, but pulled out her wand and pointed at the fire, shouting a spell Harry lost in the roar of the fire that was…silent. Turning slowly he looked to see a massive wall of ice that was blocking the corridor, behind it was a blazing red, but the surface glistened with crystal coolness. 'Ah, well at least there's a spell for stopping fire, must have slipped my mind at the time.' With a slightly embarrassed look Dumbledore sidled past McGonagall and calmly walked into the Great Hall.

'Wouldn't think he was almost human toast,' Ron murmured, watching Dumbledore as he stood beside Harry, 'I guess we ought to go in, yeah?' he nudged Harry who was still gaping at the ice wall.

'Wha…yeah, this could be interesting.'

***

They entered the hall to find most of the school gathered round the tables or at the side of the hall, as the group converged on the Gryffindor table Harry saw that only the six Slytherins were at their table. Behind them he could see Bole's parents and younger brother Albert, as well as the parents of all the others, except for Draco's. Harry tried to catch his eye but he was just staring at the ceiling, eyes lost in the swirling clouds above. At the front of the hall, Harry could just see Dumbledore amid the mass of teachers welcoming him back, he almost missed the doors spring open as Sirius walked in, he was hobbling slightly. 'Sirius!' he cried and ran over to tackle his godfather, 'You're okay!'

'Ouch,' Sirius gave Harry a wincing smile, 'I was fine until you broke half my ribs!' then with a burst of laughter he held his godson close. 'I told you never give up, me and Snape sure as hell didn't.' Harry was about to reply when Dumbledore stood up at the front and silence arose.

'Hello again,' he began, 'most of you know me, I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts until last year.' At this point most of the students began shouting out cries of shame, only those who knew what was happening remained silent. 'Thank you for your support, but I am happy to leave the school in hands of Remus Lupin, there are other matters for me to deal with now…and this is why I, and others you do not normally see, are here. You were all present for Lord Voldemort's attack on the Hogwarts Express, no doubt some of you have noticed that the Slytherin table seems rather empty.' He took a breath and held a brief pause before continuing.

'Hogwarts Academy has come under siege by the forces of Voldemort, and some among you will already know he attacked Hogsmeade and Ministry officials stationed there this evening. He has successfully destroyed and disrupted our institutions throughout the world, our Ministry of Magic building in London and the Durmstrang Institute are two familiar places to you. Now Voldemort has mustered his forces here and recently tried to take the castle through the Slytherin students not present, those you see have successfully defended you from his early attack.'

While he paused a wave of clapping swept over the hall, not the applause that congratulates winners, but that which respects true bravery and courage. 'I will now brief you on the situation, but first I would ask anyone who has already been assigned by myself or Minister Fudge to go to their posts, excluding students who have helped.' He added this last remark as Harry turned to follow Sirius from the hall, but now he, Viktor and Draco were watched by the entire hall. 'By students I refer to not only those from Slytherin house but also to Harry Potter and Viktor Krum, they have been my eyes and ears along with some teachers, indeed Harry is responsible for saving several families and Ministry officials with Draco Malfoy in Hogsmeade.'

Again a ripple of applause crossed the hall as Harry sat down, 'I will now brief you on what has arisen since the attack inside the castle. I have sealed the Slytherins in their common room, undoubtedly they will escape to the outside and I will not stop them. Since then Professor McGonagall and the staff have opened the castle armoury, which many of you may not know even existed. Soon you will be not only familiar with the existence of these weapons contained within, some of you will have to use them. For now I ask everyone to return to their sleeping quarters and common rooms, will the Slytherins please go to Gryffindor house. Will the remaining staff, head boy, and all the house Prefects please stay behind.'

Harry waited until the rest of the Gryffindors left, Dudley walking off with Seamus and Dean amid cries of 'Football', 'Basketball' and 'Quidditch', then he rose with Hermione, Ron and Neville. Amongst the group that stayed behind Harry saw Ernie, Cho and Draco among others including Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hannah Abbot. He didn't recognise the other Ravenclaw Prefects as none of his previous classes had been with them.

'Well, needless to say exams are off this year,' Harry arrived to hear Dumbledore utter these sacred words, but managed to avoid cheering out loud. 'Of course we will continue normal teaching, but it will be more themed,' all of this was directed towards the staff as Dumbledore had been waiting for the students to assemble, then he turned his attention to them. 'Ah good, hello my Prefects, now most of you know Viktor Krum, a few know he's our Head Boy this year, Remus couldn't find a Head Girl of his age so the position was left clear.'

'You will now all be my eyes and ears, not just Viktor, Harry and Draco, I am counting on you to patrol the school and watch for any discrepancies. Each of you has been removed from one set of lessons each week during which you will patrol. I have another notice as well and that is there are no Potions lessons this year, Professor Snape is working another job for me…so this means Potions will be replaced by Advanced Muggle Studies, which is a new compulsory course.'

Dumbledore waited out the whispers among the students then; 'It will of course be taught by Professor Snape as he otherwise would hold no position. However he is currently in the hospital wing so I would like to take the lesson myself. With this in mind Harry, Justin and Hermione, will you please stay behind, I think that's it, you may all go now.' The crowd around the elderly wizard dispersed, including the staff, until just Dumbledore and the three students remained in the Great Hall.

'Thank goodness that's over, I hate long speeches,' with a short smile Dumbledore slumped into a chair with a small groan, 'You will not believe how happy I am you students are running around for me now!' This bought a little chuckle from the wizard and Harry couldn't help but smile, 'Now, I won't pretend myself and Professor Snape are the absolute authorities on Muggles, that is why I need your help to prepare for the lessons in the new subject.' At this point he rested his gaze on Harry before continuing.

'As you may have guessed from my public speech and its sudden introduction, Advanced Muggle Studies is based on the use of and defence from Muggle weapons, because if I know Voldemort, he'll use them all once the magical field around Hogwarts is totally down. I have chosen you three because you have all been raised as Muggles until you were eligible for Hogwarts, as such you have knowledge of Muggle affairs, albeit some more than others.' Harry thought this was a direct remark to him, after all as a Muggle he had spent eleven years of his life in a cupboard.

'So, tonight if you could all write out a short list of any Muggle equipment you feel should be covered in the course, I would appreciate it a lot. Now, you three are also to be my patrollers for the first week, as well as Neville if you could let him know Hermione, so this means none of you has to attend any classes, you will instead patrol.' Although Hermione looked distraught at missing such a large amount of lessons, Harry knew she could easily catch up from the other Gryffindors. 'So, unless you have any questions…'

'One sir,' Justin put in, 'is the course meant to cover weapons training, or just knowledge of their potential?'

'Unfortunately, I have decided they shall be in the training of weapons use, although any theory will be useful. Now, I have finished and you should all go get some sleep, you have a long week ahead.' Dumbledore rose from his chair and with farewells from the students he left for the room behind the Great Hall. While Justin and Hermione turned away, Harry watched the old wizard open the door and pass into the room, he looked tired and frail, as if a gust of wind could blow him over. With a grim look on his face Harry turned to follow the other two thinking about what he had seen, _a gust of wind perhaps, but a bloody strong one._

***

__

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Errol awoke with a fuzzy tongue and found himself looking into another forest, that of the bristles that covered Hagrid's mountainous chin.

__

Get a shave.

'Ah, yeh awake then. I thought yeh were a gonna when I saw that wing. Better tell Ron.' Hagrid turned away and scribbled onto a parchment lying on his coffee table, Errol noticed a school owl perched on the windowsill and hooted over at her.

__

How you doin'?

At this Errol roguishly ruffled his feathers.

__

Drop dead.

A sharp hoot came as a reply.

__

I almost did, some respect for a wounded owl.

The school owl did not dignify this jibe with a response and instead stuck out her leg to receive the letter that Hagrid had hastily scribbled. As she flew out the window Errol's vision was obscured by the mountainous body of Hagrid, 'C'mon Errol, I told Ron that you'd be waiting for him in the Entrance Hall.' Picking up the greying owl he opened the door to his shed and began a rambling path up to the school, Errol bumping around in his arms.

__

I g-guess th-this beats f-flying… I'm g-gonna hurl.

***

Harry was almost at the portrait of the Fat Lady when a black blur knocked him flying, closely followed by Dudley who helped pick Harry up, his glasses askew. 'Did you get the licence plate on that elephant?' he asked as Dudley lifted him and put his glasses back on an even keel, while trying to burst out from laughing.

'Ron just got an owl from Hagrid, Errol's okay, we're picking him up in the Entrance Hall with everyone else, wanna come?'. Harry started to say yes, but then his memory reminded him that Dumbledore had said sleep was needed.

'I better stay up here, I don't want to stay up too late, I'll explain why tomorrow, you go, have a laugh but avoid Hagrid's rock cakes if he has some with him to celebrate.' Dudley looked slightly put out, but then shrugged and raced after Ron. Watching his cousin race down the hall Harry smiled, perhaps it was slightly good that he had been stranded here, sighing he turned to the Fat Lady, 'Pigwidgeon', and the frame swung forward admitting Harry to the common room…the deserted common room.

'Hi Harry.' Neville's voice came out of nowhere and almost sent Harry into shock. 'Sorry, everyone else has gone up to bed, I was waiting to talk to you and Hermione, but she's gone as well – what was up with Ron.' Harry explained quickly about Errol, and while Neville nodded he sat himself in another comfy armchair by the fire. 'So it's all action now, guess it was coming then.'

'Neville, I have to ask you something…don't answer if you don't want to.' He stopped and looked the boy in the face, it wasn't the usual rounded expression, but the firelight cast long shadows on a longer and more wizened face. With a nod from Neville, Harry continued; 'I want to know, what…what changed since last year?' he had not expected the reaction he got, Neville paled considerably and looked to object, then stopped abruptly. 'It's okay if you don't-'

'I do…it's just, difficult.' Neville turned to face Harry with his face shining in the firelight, 'first of all I have to tell you something I've never told anyone else, about my parents…' before he could get any further, Harry interrupted Neville.

'I know about your parents, I saw…last year…I didn't tell anyone…Dumbledore has a Pensieve…I fell in.' Harry flustered at this, he was embarrassed not to have told Neville earlier, 'he made me promise not to tell anyone…I didn't, not even you. I'm sorry, it's not enough but I am.'

'It's more than enough, I'm glad you kept it to yourself, I don't know what I would have done if you had told me.' He smiled almost sheepishly at this, then settled down to continue with his first conversation; 'anyway, you should know that I always go to St. Mungo's during the holidays to visit them…' Harry nodded an affirmative to him rather than speak again. 'Well, normally…normally they don't recognise me…they just talk as if I'm still a baby, I was when they were attacked. I was at my grandma's when the Death Eaters came…'

'Did you ever find out who did it?' Harry asked before he could stop himself, he had seen the trial of the accused.

'Yes…Dumbledore told me at the end of last year – after you found Crouch again.' Neville had a grim look on his face when he said this, but continued with his summer memory. 'Anyway, for the first time…my dad…he looked at me and recognised me…as I am now…not as a baby.' He looked up again and Harry saw faint tears glistening on the boy's face, 'it was only for a second, but he told me one thing; _keep going_. He didn't go back to…normal afterward, he just fell asleep…he's coming back and I now I have something to go for…he's changed me.'

'What about your mother? Is she getting better as well?' Harry felt a rush of hope for Neville, was he also getting his family back?

'She…she died about a week later…she was different from dad, her brain was failing, not just damaged. Her funeral was two weeks ago. Dad was at the funeral, he remembered her, he's coming out in two weeks…' Neville added the last part with some conviction; 'I promised him I would, so I've changed, now I have something to really go for…I guess that's like you now, you have a father as well.' Neville then returned to gazing at the fire while Harry thought on the last comment…_I have a father._

****

Chapter 17: Dreams and Reality

That night Harry dreamt again, blood and violence seemed to be an issue as he lay noiselessly moving in the armchair opposite a snoozing Neville. The dream was the same as the previous evening's, but the venue was different with Harry confronting Voldemort, their allies surrounding them.

__

To either side of Harry was Ron and Hermione, while Dudley stood behind the trio, he was armed with a crossbow while they all held wands. Behind them the survivors of a bloody battle stood warily, gazing with anger at Voldemort on the other side of an earthy floor. Harry again took control of his body to look around, he saw Draco and Neville holding each other up, both with burns all over their clothes, Hagrid stood dwarfing the rest of the party with his crossbow, which was in fact a siege spear thrower. The rest of the crowd blurred away but he caught the faces of Sirius, Remus, the Weasley twins and Ginny, Professor McGonagall was there two, but then his body moved irresistibly forwards, pacing towards Voldemort.

'Hey Harry,' into his cloudy vision walked Hermione holding two pieces of steaming toast, smeared liberally with smooth butter. 'Have a comfortable sleep? You were in the armchair all night.'

'Fine thanks,' Harry slurred as he scraped fuzz off his tongue.

'Surprised you and Neville managed it actually,' she continued handing Harry a slice, 'the entire Weasley troupe came in at about 1:00 a.m. for a party, George and Fred set off about twenty Dr. Filibusters.' She then moved onto Neville who was still snoozing away.

__

He now took in the opposition, most of the Death Eaters had their masks on but a few were torn off, he saw Macnair, the supposed executioner of Buckbeak, Crabbe and Goyle stood covered in blood, their two sons behind them, he felt a whirl of hate as Lucius Malfoy's mouth formed the word Mudblood as he gazed at Hermione, advancing beside Harry. Finally there was Pettigrew and Voldemort himself, the undying Dark Wizard and his ever faithful servant, again uncontrolled Harry spat out a small jet of saliva and blood.

'Ready to patrol then?' asked a yawning Neville, 'I guess we should start straight away.'

'Fine,' Harry said, 'it'll give me a chance to find Ron and Dudley before they go to lessons.'

'I doubt it Harry,' Hermione intervened, 'it's six a.m., I think most of the students are still out of it.'

'Six!' Neville moaned as he sorted out his robes, 'how did you get this food then?' he waved his buttered toast around to illustrate the point.

'With a little help from Dobby's friends, and a certain bowl of fruit,' she added this with a wink to Harry. He remembered the previous year when Hermione had led Ron and himself to the kitchen after Fred accidentally revealed the location of the entrance to her. Stifling a yawn herself Hermione threw the napkins she had brought up into the fire and it engulfed them hungrily, sending one log crashing with a cloud of ashes.

__

Harry wasn't sure who fired first, all he knew was when the gap between the opposing forces had dropped to ten feet all hell had broken loose. Red and green flashes had rent the air, and a sneering Voldemort had brought up a wall of flame around himself, as the Death Eater beams began to home in on the four in front, Hermione cast a Shield Charm that deflected the curses with flickers of electric blue. As Dudley loosed off crossbow quarrels spells flew thicker and faster, Harry turned his head while his arm loosed off spells in sync with Ron. Behind him Harry saw Neville and Draco working together behind a Shield Charm that was steadily draining, Harry saw why, the caster was a bleeding Flitwick who was sagging down against the body of Lavender Brown.

'So where do we go first?' Neville asked Hermione who held a scroll in her other hand, 'or do we patrol a bit each?'

'Bit each, I've got the main halls and library, Neville does the upper classrooms while Harry gets to do the dungeons and middle levels.'

'Fun,' Harry muttered sarcastically, 'maybe Professor Snape will have a warm Butterbeer on hold for me when I'm down there. Wait, what about Justin?'

'He gets to do around the grounds,' said Hermione uneasily, 'I think he just has to walk around the castle.'

'Who wrote the orders Hermione?' Harry asked.

'I–I have no idea,' she tried to cover up the stutter, 'why?'

'Give them to me…' he asked quietly. Wordlessly she handed Harry the scroll, there was an instruction to meet in the Entrance Hall at 6:15 a.m. from Dumbledore, but the rota was in Hermione's handwriting. 'Put Justin inside.'

'I–'

'Nothing is going to happen to me Hermione, just put Justin on the inside.'

'You win,' she relented, 'but stay close to the school.'

'No problem…' Harry gave Hermione a warm smile.

__

The headlong attack had become very troubled, both Draco and Neville were dead on top of Flitwick after his charm had finally failed. George and Fred had formed a whirling dervish of wands with Ginny, the twins sent out all the curses, charms and jinxes they knew while she cast a Shield Charm to match Hermione's. Sirius and Snape were fighting side-by-side again, at their feet was a bloody mess of rags that had been Lupin, towering over them was Hagrid as he reloaded his crossbow, the size of bolt-thrower from a siege. The rest of the staff had formed a line with Dumbledore at the centre, Professor McGonagall on his immediate left, and they constantly sent spells flying towards the Death Eater lines as the battle of attrition continued.

'Harry, are you sure it's the best idea?' Neville asked after Hermione fell silent. 'I know, hell, we _all_ know that you can fend for yourself…but last year you barely escaped with your life when you were alone against _him._'

'I wasn't alone Neville,' Harry replied fiercely, 'I had the help of anyone who ever believed in what was good, and paid for believing that.' Hermione knew he referred to his parents Lily and James, Bertha Jorkins, the old Muggle; Frank, and Cedric. 'And I'm not alone now, no one is alone while we're here, and that's because Dumbledore is here, and McGonagall and Sirius and Arthur Weasley and Snape and Lupin. Everyone who ever believed in something that is pure and good is here, and while they are no one here is _ever_ going to be alone.'

After this fierce speech Harry left through the portrait hole with a slightly shocked Neville and quiet Hermione remaining in front of the fire. 'I guess he's patrolling outside then,' mumbled Hermione.

'Yeah, but he sure as hell isn't going alone,' with this Neville threw some dust from on top of the fireplace into the fire, 'Dobby,' he said as it turned a deep blue, 'come here please, it's Neville from Gryffindor.' Hermione just looked shocked, she had not known you could do that with the dust, Neville just winked as Dobby stepped out of the hearth wiping ash off some mismatched socks.

'Hello Neville Longbottom, hello Miss Hermione. Is you both feeling well, you is looking a bit shaky.'

'We're both fine,' Neville replied, 'Harry is going outside Dobby, I just want you to watch him, You-Know-Who's forces are nearby.'

'He is in danger?'

'Maybe…'

'Then I will make sure no one is to harm Harry Potter, including Mr. Lucius, he is giving me my freedom and I is always thankful to repay him.'

__

As more and more spells came in on the quartet of friends Harry saw Voldemort emerge from his cloud of fire with Pettigrew, only when his attackers were depleted did he even show his face. Dudley loosed off a quarrel that Pettigrew grabbed from the air and crushed in his silver hand, then a stray spell struck him from behind as Voldemort casually raised his wand and aimed it at the friends. As Pettigrew collapsed Voldemort formed the words in his mouth that would unleash the Killing Curse, forgetting offence Harry and Ron joined Hermione in muttering the Shield Charm until an orange orb formed around them. The curse struck with the force of a strong wind and with surprising suddenness the shield's strength disappeared as Voldemort raised his wand again. As Harry stepped forward to protect his friends he saw the green point of the spell approaching and knew he would join the grey-eyed corpses that already littered the field, then there was a BANG!

Harry was already outside by the time Dobby flicked into existence by the front doors of the castle, he had just turned round the corner and so using House Elf magic Dobby faded into the background, turning an odd grey colour until he matched the stone castle walls. Padding forward silently, thanks to his layered socks, Dobby turned the corner to find Harry standing stock still and staring down the slope to Hagrid's cabin. The boy was visibly calm but Dobby could sense Harry was at a conflict, should he patrol as normal or go and see his friend? Swiftly thinking, Dobby flicked into the room above Harry's head and spoke in the voice of a student: 'But Hagrid, why can't we have our class outside?'

'It's too dangerous, I'm not even allowed into my cabin yeh know,' Dobby continued the charade and was eventually rewarded by Harry's receding footsteps around the next corner. Dobby than flicked into Hagrid's cabin and found that it was indeed deserted, all of his belongings had gone; even the enormous bed that Hagrid slumbered in had disappeared, he then flicked out to Harry's position again.

Luckily for Dobby he was still in camouflage as Harry walked straight past him a few seconds later without a second glance. Breathing outwards with relief Dobby began to track Harry as the boy made his way outside the long wall that belonged to the Great Hall, pausing when Harry stopped outside an open window. He saw Hermione lean out and chat to Harry for a few minutes, both wore smiles whereas previously they had been arguing. As Harry left Hermione looked around and quickly uncovering Dobby gave her a wave, this time smiling with relief she retreated into the window again as Dobby reapplied his camouflage and disappeared.

__

Harry fell backwards under the weight of Dobby's body, the house-elf had appeared in front of the spell as it had been about to hit him. He looked down and found that instead of grey and sightless eyes, Dobby was breathing raggedly and covered with burns. 'I is repaying you at last sir…Dobby has given Harry Potter his freedom…I is…I is…going now…' and with a final shudder he closed his eyes and was still. Harry laid down the body and lifted his face until he stared Voldemort down, there were tears running down the boy's face as he raised his wand until it hovered over the Dark Wizard's heart.

Harry and his tail were approaching one of the last walls before the entrance when a loud CRACK rent the air. Dobby's ears clamped round his eyes in a natural reflex and by the time he had removed them, Harry had disappeared from his vision. Panic took over Dobby's instincts and he ran along the wall, steadily gaining his natural green colour as the grey walls passed in a blur. 'Where is Harry Potter?' he muttered under his breath as his lopsided run led to a brown patch of earth. Slowing down Dobby recognised it as the area where the Slytherins had blown their way out of their dungeon common room.

Cautiously he walked inside down the earthy slope and was at the bottom when a voice rang out; _'Stupefy'_ and Dobby saw a luminous red spell sizzle his way. Throwing himself aside Dobby raised his right finger and began muttering in elf lore searching for the source of the spell when the voice spoke again. 'Dobby, what the heck are you doing here? _Lumos'_ and Dobby saw Harry appear beneath a glowing wand tip. 'I could have hurt you,' Dobby then neglected to tell Harry he would have deflected the spell, 'I was looking around when you came down – I thought you were a Death Eater for crying out loud.'

'I is very sorry sir,' Dobby replied, 'only I is worried about you sir. I is following you because of this.'

'And who told you to?' Harry asked with a broad smile on his face.

'I is doing it myself sir,' Dobby said then tried to throw himself into the wall.

'_Accio cushion!'_ Harry cried and Dobby crashed into the fluffy target.

'I is still not happy lying sir,' Dobby said, dusting off his tea cosy, 'it was Mr. Neville and Ms. Hermione's idea, they is worried about you…and I is as well.' Dobby looked at Harry with his enormous saucer eyes.

'I'm fine, really, they thought I would go looking for trouble.' Harry picked up one of Dobby's socks that had flown off and handed it to the house elf with a warm smile, 'I guess you're the worst I found.'

'Not quite…'

****

Chapter 18

The harsh voice came from a figure standing at the bottom of the dirt slope, he was just a shadow to Harry and Dobby as the light streamed in all around him. This was not enough to hide the long wand he held in his left hand from Harry's vision, it was enough to send him diving behind a burnt out armchair dragging the hapless elf behind him. 'You can hide but you can't run, Potter', the voice sounded again, _why was it so damn familiar?_ Harry asked himself the question, then a burning green spell shot overhead and set a picture on fire. Harry watched as the canvas monks inside ran for another frame, 'ooh, hot stuff today Potter,' the voice was now in a high pitched giggle.

Raising his head slowly, Harry pushed his glasses over the rim of the armchair and regarded the figure whose wand was now waving wildly through the air. 'Who are you?' he asked then ducked as another crackling spell shot past him.

'I'm just a crazy guy!' cackled the figure, then he shot off another wild spell and stumbled over a wrecked table, 'I'm bored now Har-ry, let's just end this.' And with a massive leap the figure landed on the other side of the armchair. Cackling he aimed his wand at Harry who stared bravely into a white death mask, then Dobby flicked out one of his long fingers, and a loud BANG! sounded with a white explosion sending the man flying across the room.

Harry looked at Dobby, the last time the elf had used such wild magic was when Lucius Malfoy had tried to attack him in his second year…Lucius Malfoy. Pulling out the Marauder's Map from his robe's pocket, Harry scanned the lower level floor as he and Dobby emerged into the light. Finding the Slytherins's common room he saw a single black dot, _Lucius Malfoy_, Harry gave a short chuckle then turned to Dobby. 'You can magic to Dumbledore's office right?' the house elf nodded in reply, 'you know which office I'm talking about?' Dobby then nodded in exaggeration. 'Show him the map, tell him…just show him the map.' Harry finished and with a white flash Dobby flicked out of his vision, a few seconds later the boy ran for the near main entrance.

As he reached there he ran slap bang into Justin Finch-Fletchley who had come haring out of the doors, wand raised at shoulder height. Mouth wide open, Justin babbled quickly; 'IwasinthedungeonsandIheardabigbang!', then drew in a deep breath. 'Sorry.'

'Never mind,' Harry said, rubbing his shin where it had met Justin's foot, 'we could have a problem.'

***

'Dobby go and tell Professor McGonagall we have a problem.' Dumbledore turned away from the bright flash as he studied the enlarged wall map, unlike Harry's it had an extension so that Dumbledore could see a further 500 yards around the school. Hogsmeade was now a mass of black dots, almost equivalent to those moving about the school, scanning the names Dumbledore found the one he had least hoped for: '_Tom Marvolo Riddle'._ Not many people were too aware of Voldemort's true identity, in fact so far as he knew only vastly younger people then himself knew.

Chuckling grimly he turned his attention to the main entrance where he saw '_Justin Finch-Fletchley' _had joined '_Harry Potter',_ the small dot marked '_Lucius Malfoy'_ was still unmoving in the Slytherin's dungeon. Returning to the main mass of dots outside the school Dumbledore let out a sigh, it looked like the siege he had expected was finally coming to a head. A bright flash exploded next to him and a different elf appeared, he wore the white pillowcase of a Hogwarts employee, however on his left foot Dumbledore noticed a small sock.

'Hello Binky,' he said smiling, 'and how can I be of assistance?'

Normally a house elf would have beat their head at the thought of taking human assistance, but Binky knew that the wizard meant 'what question?' did he have. 'Sir, we is all noticing a lot of weird things…'

'Yes I imagine you have.'

'Dobby is running off after Harry Potter, your staff is running all over the place and you is having a large map with lots of new dots on.' Binky said all this in a quick and high pitched voice, eyes wide and fixed on Dumbledore.

'That is true also. What was your question?'

'Will you be requiring supper tonight sir?'

'Yes,' Dumbledore said while trying not to laugh, _trust a house elf to think of the basic necessities,_ 'although there will be a change.'

'A change…oh good sir, you know we is not liking change much.'

'Yes, but this change is for the benefit of all,' here Albus paused, 'even house elves.'

'You…you is meaning we are getting more work?'

'I wouldn't be surprised,' Dumbledore replied as another flash hit the office and Dobby appeared, 'ah good, now I can tell both of you. From now on all meals will be served at different times so I need you all to cook all the time, people may request breakfast at lunch for example.'

'Why is this sir?' asked Binky.

'We're going to have a lot on our hands…' the wizard didn't bother explaining the rest, they knew what was going on. 'Dobby this will mean a pay rise for you and Winky.' At this both the house elves gazed at each other, while none could approve of this Dobby had gained some sympathy from most elves. 'This will also apply to any who have joined you,' he continued gazing at Binky's sock, 'but for everyone there is one last new job.'

'We is ready sir.'

'Let us do our best.'

'Well, here is my new job for you…'

***

Justin was left standing in the doorway, Harry had gone to fetch Dumbledore after telling the boy to watch out for anything, he'd also given him a map of the castle. Looking again Justin was amazed that Harry had come into such a possession, then again he did have a Firebolt, and this was probably another gift or item Harry had brought. Studying the map closely he was scanning the different classrooms where a multitude of small dots were appearing and flicking out in a matter of seconds, they all had names like 'Binky' and 'Floo'. So busy was Justin he missed the single black dot moving round the castle towards the front door, never saw it draw up beside the door that was closed, only inches away from him.

Seeing a dot flick in and stay put Justin raised the map close to his face and saw that it was called _'Dobby'_, he'd heard that name before. Of course, Dobby had tried to protect Harry by almost killing him in a game of Quidditch, Hermione had told Justin after they were both Unpetrified. Beside the elf's dot was one labelled _'Albus Dumbledore'_, _that must be his office then_ mused Justin and continued to look finding himself by the front door. _Wait, who's that beside me?_ Dropping the map Justin whirled around, the Entrance Hall behind him was clear, _stupid map, no wonder people keep disappearing and reappearing._

Turning back Justin's eyes widened as a skull like mask appeared before him, 'wrong way around boy!' came a mad voice from within, then Justin saw a wave of red and fell to the ground. 'Peekaboo Hogwarts!' Malfoy muttered then let loose a low cackle and dragged the unconscious boy outside. A few seconds later Justin stepped back inside dragging a small body wrapped in a cloak which he leant against a pillar, 'now to find that damned boy and kill him,' he said, 'my, what a Muggle voice I've got.'

***

Harry burst into Dumbledore's normal office and found Lupin sat there again, 'Hello Harry,' he said genially then looked up, 'what's happened?'.

'No time, gotta tell Dumbledore,' Harry garbled, he'd never run so fast in his life, and within minutes he and Lupin were running again down the passage to the secret office. Bursting through Harry was blinded by a flash as Dobby and Binky disappeared, 'Professor, was that Dobby?'

'Yes Harry, and he told me all about Lucius,' the older wizard seemed to radiate calm, 'did you leave someone behind at the door?'

'Yeah, Justin, he heard the fight in the dungeons.' Harry looked up at the map and saw Justin was now leaning against a pillar, then he saw the mass of black dots moving around the edge of the map. 'I though something was up, otherwise why would Malfoy have tried to attack me…hey, where's he gone?!' looking at the map Harry saw the dungeon was clear. 'Justin!' and with that Harry took off running again, and was gone while Lupin just shot Dumbledore a look.

'You don't think?'

'Go with him Moony, I'll send some help along.'

***

Harry was running so fast that at the top of the staircase he almost knocked over Justin as he ran down the stairs to…Justin. Harry turned and saw the boy, blinked a few times then turned back to the cloaked figure leaning against the pillar, turning back again he saw Justin's eyes light up and a mad giggle escaped from his mouth. Harry punched him.

***

'So this is our new duty to Hogwarts,' Dobby finished with Binky by his side, 'is we all agreed to carry it out?' as one the Hogwarts house elves nodded. Suddenly a loud magnified voice rang out in the kitchen.

__

'Dobby, I need five of you into the Entrance Hall right now!'

'Winky, Beasel and Rufus,' Dobby shouted, 'you're with me and Binky, everyone else, keep cooking.' With this he and the four other elves flicked out to their destination.

***

Snarling the Lucius Malfoy in Justin's body wiped blood from his face and sent a fist flying into Harry's stomach. With a gasp of pain Harry stepped back as Malfoy walked forwards, then with a cry he charged him and the two were knocked down the stairs. Against the pillar Justin pulled the black robe from himself and saw Harry rolling down the stairs, with himself following closely! Several bright flashes lit the room and Justin saw five small creatures were now in the hall.

Landing with a thump Harry couldn't avoid Malfoy as he fell on top of him, removing all the air from his lungs with a sudden rush. Gasping Harry tried to push the boy off but found his hands locked around his throat, then he was amazed to see yet another Justin rugby tackle the frantic one off of him. 'Impersonate me will you,' came his very distinctive voice as he put a punch into his doppelganger's face.

Harry lifted his head in time to see Justin go flying as Malfoy released a spell from his wand that punched into the boy, then a loud BANG echoed in the room. 'You is not hurting our students,' cried Dobby and with a smack Lucius Malfoy slammed into the opposite wall, however this time he got up again within seconds. 'Winky and Rufus,' he cried as Malfoy picked up his wand, 'you will take Harry Potter and Justin Finch-Fletchley to safety now.'

Willing arms picked up Harry and he looked up into Winky's face, 'Hello Harry Potter sir,' she said chirpily, 'how is you today?' Harry just nodded as a spell shot overhead. Placing him behind the staircase Harry watched a Justin floated in beside him, guided by another elf whom he assumed was Rufus. Another loud BANG occurred and Winky smiled again at Harry, 'we is going to help Dobby and our friends now.'

Raising his head, it was still thumping from falling down the staircase, Harry saw Malfoy surrounded by five elves who chattered in their language and dodged spells that he launched. Pulling out his wand Harry aimed it at the door and summoned the closed one so it swung open on its hinges. Seeing this Dobby shouted a particularly loud phrase and raised his hands, sneering Malfoy lifted his wand and blasted off a large wave-like spell that knocked one of the other elves flying. 'You will be going now sir,' Dobby said, and lowered his hands sending Malfoy flying back out the door with an enormous explosion of light and sound.

A groaning beside him brought Harry back to Justin who was clutching his stomach, 'That guy punches like a gorilla,' he muttered as the elves shut the door, 'what the hell is going on Harry?'

'I think the school is coming under attack,' Harry replied trying to ignore the thumping in his head.

'Are you boys okay?' the voice belonged to Lupin who had just run down the stairs where Binky and Winky were watching over Beasel who had been hit by the wavy spell. Lupin crouched down as Harry managed to focus on his grizzled face, 'no major injuries I hope?'

'Just a few bruises Professor,' Justin replied.

'And one hell of a headache,' Harry added, 'how are your friends Dobby?' Harry asked the elf who was standing behind Lupin.

'Beasel is in a bad way, Rufus has gone to get him a doctor from the kitchen. We is glad to see that you and Mister Finch-Fletchley is okay.'

'Mister Finch-Fletchley,' Justin said with a grin, 'I could get used to that.'

A flash lit the hallway behind them and Dobby ran off to where the house elf doctor had appeared beside Beasel, a few seconds later all the elves disappeared. 'Right then you two adventurers, lets go see Madam Pomfrey.'

'As long as I don't have to go in a bed next to Percy' Harry replied as he pulled himself up.

***

In his office Dumbledore muttered the charm that would let him speak to the whole school and turned to face the map before him. 'This is Albus Dumbledore, may I have your attention please…'

***

__

'THE TIME I HAVE FEARED HAS COME, THE FORCES OF VOLDEMORT HAVE SURROUNDED THE SCHOOL AND AN ATTEMPT TO INFILTRATE US HAS ALREADY BEEN MADE…'

In the Gryffindor common room Ron shot Dudley a look, the morning break had suddenly lost its fun.

***

__

'THANKS TO A SMALL GROUP OF STUDENT AND STAFF THE ATTEMPT FAILED, BUT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE A MASSIVE ATTACK WILL BE QUICKLY LAUNCHED AGAINST THE SCHOOL…'

Draco Malfoy stared out of the window in a Charms classroom as several conjured plants grew into the ceiling unnoticed.

***

__

'I ASK NOW FOR ALL OF YOU ALLOCATED TO THE DEFENCE OF HOGWARTS TO GO AND MAN YOUR POSTS. SOON PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL AND THE STAFF WILL BE AROUND WITH WEAPONS FROM THE CASTLE'S MUGGLE ARMOURY, THESE COULD BE YOUR ONLY FORM OF DEFENCE…'

In their allocated room Arthur Weasley held his wife close as the news he had never hoped to hear unfolded from the walls.

***

'Remember, we now fight for all that is good, I wish you all good fortune.' Dumbledore removed the charm and sighed as he leant back into his chair, watching the map he saw _'Tom Marvolo Riddle'_ step out in front of the dots.

***

Around the castle masked Dark Wizards stepped out form their cover as Voldemort held up his wand with a blazing yellow light on the end. With baited breath they watched as he turned to face them all, then the light went out and with an unearthly yell the Death Eaters charged towards the castle…


	7. Parts 19 - 21

****

Chapter 19: The Siege Begins

Arriving in the hospital wing Harry was almost relieved to see that Madam Pomfrey was currently dealing with Weaver, the Ministry wizard who had warned them of the attack in Hogsmeade. Then his eyes were blinded by a bright green light, his headache doubled in its intensity and a loud screaming entered his ears. Collapsing Harry was grabbed by Lupin as most of the windows in the hospital wing blew inwards, cursing Lupin pushed Justin back into the hall, why hadn't they put anyone on guard in the hospital wing, it was the perfect place to attack.

Jerking upright Percy Weasley pulled his sheets up as glass flew towards him, he'd been in a restful sleep and a large purple bruise on his face showed the only result of his encounter with Wormtail a couple of days before. Lowering the blankets he grabbed his wand from the table and was at a blown out window before knew what was happening, outside he saw a large crater with Death Eaters charging over the rim. A grim looking Lupin joined him and both pointed their wands at the attacking force.

***

'That was a howitzer!' Vernon Dursley said as the entire castle echoed the loud boom. He and Petunia had left their room after Dumbledore's announcement and had found Arthur and Molly Weasley also trying to enter the Gryffindor common room. Now they were sat around the hearth with Dudley and Ginny; Mr. Weasley and his sons had gone up to their rooms to look at the situation below them. 'No bloody wonder Dumbledore is giving out some weapons to the defenders.'

Running down the stairs and dodging around several students Ron and Mr. Weasley arrived at the armchairs where the Dursleys and Ginny were perched. 'Voldemort's attacking in force,' Arthur said, surprised at using the name, 'I've got to go, Vernon will you come as well?'

Glancing at his wife Vernon Dursley made a decision, not for himself, but for everyone else. 'Let's show you how we Muggles fight then.' Grabbing his jacket Vernon kissed his wife and left the room with Mr. Weasley.

'Dudley,' Ron broke into the boys thoughts, 'I'm going to find Harry…' and with a nod from his mother Dudley left with Ron leaving the two mothers and a daughter by the fire.

***

Wandering around the middle floors with Viktor, Hermione heard the large explosion, 'Oh damn,' Hermione muttered as she felt the castle shudder, then cloaks trailing in the air behind them, she and Viktor ran for the Great Hall.

***

'Get up Harry!' Justin said and Harry opened his eyes to find the light had gone, 'we've got to get these people out.' Harry saw the gesture was directed at the few wizards who were still stuck in their beds as the rest joined Percy and Lupin at the windows, a bandaged bunch of defenders.

***

Neville heard the massed screaming and saw the flash of some Muggle weapon while he was walking around the top floors of the castle. Running to a window he saw the explosion outside the hospital wing and the small Death Eater force that followed it. Realising the same tactical error as Lupin, he cursed under his breath and ran for Dumbledore's office.

***

'And make sure you bring back more people afterwards!' Lupin shouted as Harry wheeled out Weaver on the last hospital bed. Harry nodded then ran out the door as a fizzing red spell impacted into the wall beside it. 'And get us some bloody weapons!' was Remus's last comment.

***

Professor McGonagall ran along the hall with a levitating trolley stacked with Muggle weapons trailing along behind her. Stopping at all the posts she was surprised how many of the 'angrybows' remained, and then there was an explosion in front of her. 'Sorry Professor McGonagall,' squeaked a small house elf, 'but I is needing to take your trolley to the hospital wing.' McGonagall, who had been on the verge of checking for missing limbs, just nodded and with another explosion the elf disappeared with the trolley.

***

With a loud yell Percy released a curse that threw back two Death Eaters from the lip of the crater, in answer the fifty or so Dark Wizards outside released answering curses that chipped at the paintwork. 'Thank God poppy isn't hear,' he heard Lupin muttered, 'she'd kill the lot of them for destroying her hospital. Percy laughed as he heard this, but it soon faded when a strange whistling pierced the air around them. 'TAKE COVER' Lupin cried, but when the howitzer shell impacted seconds later two wizards were still sent flying across the room, landing in a mess of bloody robes.

As Percy scuttled over to check on them Remus cursed, then another explosion occurred next to him, but in its place a house elf appeared. 'You is wanting some weapons sir?' it asked and Remus found himself laughing at its innocence.

'Yes, I'll take some weapons, we all will,' he replied to the sincere elf, then above the sounds of spells he heard a mad ranting and turned back to the window. From beyond the lip of the crater the angry mob of Death Eaters charged, 'ARM YOURSELVES' Lupin shouted and within a few seconds the wizards at the windows had crossbows aimed over their targets. 'Try to just stop them,' he ordered, 'fire at will!' and along the line of hospital windows there was a repetitive vibration of taunt lines followed by a number of thin screams outside, the battle had been joined.

***

Breathing deeply Neville burst into Dumbledore's second office that he'd followed Harry to the day before to find the elderly wizard gazing at the map of Hogwarts that was now an island in a sea of raging black dots. 'Hello Neville, I guess the time has come?'

'Sir, they're launching a massive attack against the hospital wing, we've no one guarding there.'

'Yes, a severe error on my part that is being remedied as I speak, observe if you will…' and he pointed at the map. Walking around the desk Neville stood and watched as the number of dots inside the hospital wing suddenly tripled.

'House elves,' he breathed.

'Correct,' Dumbledore replied, 'and they're very mad at Voldemort for trying to hurt us.'

***

In the hospital wing Lupin suddenly found two house elves on either side of him chanting in their language with both hands raised. 'Excuse me sir,' he heard a squeaky voice and turned to see Winky, 'but we is handling it from here I thinks. Please can you take the wounded sirs and ma'ams away?' Before he could reply Winky gently pushed Remus aside and released a spell through the window the ended with an almighty CRACK! Gazing over her head he saw five Death Eaters flying backward over the crater, Winky's spell had blown them back fifty feet. 'You is taking them away now sir,' she said over more blasts.

***

In the Great Hall Harry had just left Weaver to Madam Pomfrey when Hermione and Viktor burst through the door, closely followed by Ron and Dudley. 'Before you ask I'm fine, in fact Justin is slightly worse off, so much for patrolling the dungeons Herm.' he winked and gestured to the boy who grinned while holding an ice compress against his forehead. 'The even better news though is that the house elves fought off Lucius Malfoy.'

'Honestly Harry,' Hermione replied, 'here we are worried to death while you stand there and act all smug!' but it was in such a sarcastic tone that even Hermione laughed by the end of her little tirade.

'Vot's been going on then Harry?' Viktor asked after everyone had finished laughing at Hermione's joke. 'Ve heard and felt a very large 'bang' ven ve vere upstairs.'

'Yeah, it's the Death Eaters, they've got a howitzer, it's like a small cannon.' Harry hoped everyone knew what a cannon was at least and from their faces he was right. 'They haven't hit anything but they aimed for the hospital wing, Lupin is there now defending it, he needs help though.'

'Time for a recruitment drive then,' Ron said with a thoughtful glimmer, 'I'm in.' Viktor raised his eyebrows at this then turned to Harry and searched into his eyes.

'Very vell, let's give them something to think about.'

***

Lupin and Percy held one of their injured comrades between them as they cleared out of the hospital wing, it was now alight with flame and cracking sounds thickened the air. A whining sound pierced everything again as a new shell began to fall towards the wing, Lupin realised to late that he hadn't told Winky what they were, 'WINKY! GET YOUR ELVES DOWN!' he yelled over the noise. About half of the elves threw themselves into cover but the rest stood standing as the shell near its impact point.

'SHIELD CHARMS!' yelled Harry as he burst through the door with Justin, Ron and Viktor. As one they raised their wands and shot out an electric blue bubble that encompassed the wall the shell would hit. 'Hermione, help Dudley!' and from the corner of his eye Harry saw the young witch put up a Shield Charm to protect Dudley who stepped into her protective bubble. 'Hold on everyone!' Harry said as the shell hit the floor.

BOOM!

The impact hit knocked Ron off his feet but he managed to keep up his charm while most of the elves were shaken rather then ripped apart by the lethal explosive. 'We is very grateful Harry Potter!' Winky shouted as she returned fire with another elven spell.

'No probs Winky, just watch out for any more shells, we have to go now!' Harry replied as the curses that had temporarily ceased flew thick and fast through the air again. Lifting up another one of the hobbling Ministry wizards with Ron, Harry and his friends retreated from the tattered hospital wing and made for the Great Hall again.

After placing down their burden on one of the table-cum-beds in the new 'hospital' Harry went over to find Viktor talking to Dudley. 'I am very sorry I cannot give you your Quidditch lessons, ve vill try again next year?' biting back a laugh Harry sat down beside them when Neville burst into the hall, he was armed to the teeth with crossbows.

'Harry,' he said with an excited and flushed face, 'it's time for those Advanced Muggle Studies classes…'

***

Albus Dumbledore remained in his office where he could see all of the people involved in the siege. So far everything was going according to someone's plan, the trouble was he didn't know if it was his or Voldemort's. With a small sigh he returned his attention to the battle going on by the hospital wing, he was actually surprised at the lack of activity elsewhere, Voldemort was counting on surprise to win the day so far. The castle's forces had had a marvellous acquittal of themselves up to the moment, as far as he knew no one had been killed, but then again the map would show even a dead body…

'We shall see…we shall see.'

***

With a crack of wood seven crossbow quarrels shot into an overturned table, 'I guess we're ready,' Harry said to his friends and cousin.

'Bring it on!' said Ron with a cheesy grin and wink at Harry.

'Harry, can I have a word,' it was Dudley, walking aside he stopped at an unused table as more quarrels smashed into the table behind them. 'I know you've watched some television with us,' he began, 'and we both know that these,' he waved his crossbow, 'can't beat a howitzer, or any gun if they have some.'

'Yeah,' Harry replied, 'but the advantage we have is that they pride themselves on not having to use them, they are anti-Muggle to the extreme Dudley.' Harry paused as another line of quarrels embedded in the table, 'we can count on them still trying to use magic to deflect a bolt instead of using one themselves, it'll be fine, they just can't actually adapt to it.' With a smile he pushed Dudley ahead of him and continued under his breath, _'I hope…'_

***

'Time to open up the second front Wormtail,' Voldemort said to the huddled figure beside him, 'you will lead this attack.' His cruel eyes turned and bored deep into Pettigrew's fearful pinpoints, 'don't fail me Wormtail, you know what will happen…'

***

Dumbledore sat bolt upright in his chair as a new wave of black dots swept towards the school, at the head of the charge he saw _'Peter Pettigrew'_, again he turned the announcement charm on himself.

***

__

'THIS IS ALBUS DUMBLEDORE, WILL ALL AVAILABLE DEFENDERS REPORT TO THE WALL OVERLOOKING THE QUIDDITCH PITCH, ANOTHER ATTACK IS IMMINENT, I REPEAT ANOTHER ATTACK IS IMMINENT…'

'Bloody hell,' Harry whispered as he scanned the Marauder's Map, the entire edge by the Quidditch field had gone black with dots and scripts. He turned and showed Viktor, 'we're going – right?' and was given a sharp nod in reply. Loading up his crossbow, Harry turned to face his friends again, 'ready to save the day again?'

***

Peter Pettigrew ran at the head of a column consisting of about one hundred mad and screaming Death Eaters. He was scared and didn't mind admitting it, that was why he had joined Voldemort, because he feared him, that was why he had given him Lily and James, because he was a coward and a fool. Now was the time to free himself, even if it did cost the Dark Lord something, Peter didn't care anymore, he just didn't want to be _Wormtail_ for the rest of his life.

***

When Harry and his group of defenders reached the wall they found Draco and the rest of the loyal Slytherins were already there. 'Glad you could join us,' said the boy, his blue eyes shining in anticipation, 'looks like they want another crack at us!'

'Have you lot got weapons?' Harry asked as Viktor lined up the Gryffindors and Hufflepuff along the wall, their crossbows facing outwards. Draco smiled in answer and drew his wand and a slingshot from his robes, behind him the Slytherins also removed their wands and an assortment of ballistic weapons.

'Lets show them how we do things at Hogwarts…'

****

Chapter 20: Battles and Backstabbing

At the head of the charge Peter knew the only way he could escape was to die or be captured, of course if he was captured by most people it would mean death, especially now Sirius had been acquitted. Sirius. What would he do if he caught Pettigrew? Kill him? Most likely.

***

On top of the ramparts Harry unfolded the map as the charging mass got nearer and nearer, the dots were more thinly spread now as the faster runners outpaced their slower counterparts. Scanning carefully he saw one name that was almost to the wall and getting closer every second, it was Pettigrew. 'Everyone,' he shouted, 'hold your fire until the main mass gets here, otherwise we won't hit much, Hermione, come here a second.'

'What's up Harry?' asked Hermione as she arrived beside him while still looking over the wall.

'Look at the map Herm,' he replied, 'do you see a familiar face?' he pointed at Pettigrew's dot that was now dancing around near the wall while the nearest Death Eater was still five hundred yards behind him. 'Can you get him up here?'

'But Harry, I can't see him down there.' Hermione argued, and Harry joined her in looking over the wall, it was true, Pettigrew's dot placed him at the base moving backwards and forwards, but he wasn't there.

'The map doesn't lie,' Harry said, then a small glint attracted his attention. 'There!' he said, pointing at the motion, 'he's turned into the rat he is, snag him Hermione.'

'Sure?'

'Do it,' Harry turned away as Hermione began to cast her spell, 'everyone, get ready for a surprise guest…'

***

Dobby was in the kitchen with Beasel, his friend lay on his lap and was covered in burns where the Firewave Jinx had hit him, 'I is dying Dobby,' he said faintly.

'No Beasel, you is just tired,' Dobby said with a sniff as his ears began to tremble.

'I is being brave though, and I is helping to protect Harry Potter, you is being proud?'

'We is all being proud of you Beasel,' Dobby replied as his friend began to convulse.

'I is liking being a part of Hogwarts…goodbye.' Dobby shut his friends saucer wide eyes and used his ears to wipe off flowing tears.

'You is taking him,' he said to some house elves nearby, 'and we…' he said to the rest of the elves nearby, 'we is continuing to do our jobs for Dumbledore.'

***

Peter ran back and forth about the wall, he knew there was a gap here, that was how he had snuck out to join James, Sirius and Remus on their adventures. Squeaking frantically as the next fastest Death Eater drew closer to the wall Peter's small body was suddenly snapped upwards as if on an invisible noose. _So much for an inconspicuous entrance_ he thought to himself as he saw the face of the Granger girl leaning over the parapet above him.

With a small thump he landed under the tip of a wand and looked up into familiar green eyes, 'Stop the rat act Wormtail.' And under Harry's careful and steady arm the rat grew upwards and outwards into Peter Pettigrew, 'fancy seeing you here.'

'Take me to Dumbledore please Harry,' Peter muttered as most of the wall turned towards him, 'I need to give him information.'

'Well Wormtail, I'm very sorry but we're being attacked at the moment,' Harry answered in a sarcastic tone that was edged with venom, 'can I make you an appointment.'

'I can wait,' Pettigrew replied with a snap as a small thump hit the wall, 'down here,' he added and dove for cover as a number of spells flew over the parapets. With a cry Adrian Pucey was knocked off as a Reductor Curse blew away the parapet he knelt behind.

'OPEN FIRE!' Draco shouted and with the remaining Slytherins he let loose a sling loaded with lead pellets, down on the field several Death Eaters fell with bloody legs, unable to walk further. Seizing their opportunity the Gryffindors leapt up with Justin on the end and sent a volley of crossbow quarrels flying, the spells launched in retaliation melting some of the stonework.

'Boy,' Dudley muttered as he reloaded beside Harry, 'this sure beats regular classes.'

***

Deep within the Hogwarts Igor Karkaroff started to shake uncontrollably to the amazement and fear of his two guards. 'What's going on?' asked one and got an aimless shrug in response.

***

'DUCK!' Harry shouted as Draco and the other Slytherins rose again to launch a salvo at the onrushing Death Eaters. As they rose a series of red beams shot over and with a gurgle Percy Bole fell as the Stunning Curses washed over him. 'Oh god we can't handle this,' Harry muttered as another parapet stone fell off. To his left the rest of the Gryffindors and Justin held their crossbows ready while on his right Draco attended to the stunned boy.

'Harry, ve need help,' Viktor was beside him nursing a small scratch in his arm where a flying stone chip had struck him.

'Tell me something I don't know,' Harry retorted, 'but Dumbledore has a map, he must see what's happening.'

'He has seen what's happened,' came the elderly wizard's voice as he walked up the stairs leading a large group of Ministry wizards as well as parents. 'Take your friends down now Harry, as well as Peter, Draco if you'll take Percy and Adrian to Madam Pomfrey in the hall.' Breathing a sigh of relief Harry and the others ran down the wall as the new defenders took up positions. 'Harry!' Dumbledore called after him, 'take Peter to where Karkaroff is on the map, I'll talk to him later.'

Keeping his wand close to Peter, Harry led the others back into the hall opening the doors for Draco and the two stretchers that followed him. 'Harry,' he turned to see Viktor again, 'I vill take Pettigrew down to Karkaroff, I haff some questions for him.'

'Fine, but I've got some questions for Wormtail,' Harry replied, 'we'll both go.'

***

'That is freaking me out now.'

'Too true.'

Karkaroff was now writhing about on the floor while his entire body was racked with convulsions, his eyes were rolled up into his head. Harry and Viktor had walked around the corner to the room's entrance with Pettigrew when he let out a blood curdling scream that set them running towards the room.

'Vot happened?' Viktor asked one of the shaking guards.

'No idea,' said the ashen-faced wizard, 'he just started shaking a few minutes ago.'

'Bloody hell…' Harry whispered as Karkaroff's body twisted in every direction, 'it looks like he's under the Cruciatus Curse.' A sudden memory shot into Harry's mind and in his eyes he saw Cedric writhing on the ground under Viktor's wand, as if the bushes were invisible he saw Moody muttering the curse on the other side.

'Harry!' his eyes shot open as Peter grabbed his shoulder, 'it's Voldemort, he's cursing Igor from outside.' Harry turned to face Pettigrew and looked for the lie that he hid but could find none, 'I'm telling you, this is his work.'

'Fine,' Harry snapped, 'but what can we do about it?'

'Running would be a good idea,' came a high pitched voice that silenced all the wizards, 'I mean it you know.' Harry turned and saw it was Karkaroff who was speaking through gritted teeth while holding his arms and legs in against the spasms.

'Vot do you mean?'

'I mean RUN!' shouted Karkaroff.

***

Dumbledore pushed aside Hannah Abbot's father as a new wave of spells shot over the ramparts sending two Ministry wizards flying down onto the lawn behind the wall. 'Ready weapons,' he said along the line of defenders, 'FIRE!' and with the snapping of several crossbow lines a hail of quarrels flew into the Death Eater ranks. 'Reload and keep your heads down!' and while they did so Albus sat among the fire and brimstone that was raining down, thinking. Something was wrong, he couldn't put his finger on it, but something…something about the way Voldemort was attacking.

***

'RUN!' Karkaroff screamed again at the group of wizards who were dumbstruck by the apparent demands of a madman. Opening his mouth again Karkaroff could only admit a small groan, then his legs and arms began flailing wildly again.

'Just what the hell is going on?' Harry asked no one in particular.

***

'MOVE IT WEASLEY!' shouted Vernon as a blue wave swept towards the upright wizard, then with a heavy thud Harry's bulky uncle had tackled him as the spell shot overhead. 'What would your wife say if I came back without you?' he asked as Mr. Weasley coughed from the impact.

Dumbledore watched this from the sidelines, he had turned command of the battle over to Professor Flitwick who was running about under the parapets' protection while giving commands to the defenders. _Why doesn't this feel right?_ He asked himself the question for the fifth time in a minute, _Voldemort works by cunning, so why would he risk such an open attack? He already tried to get Lucius in here. I know Pettigrew's in here, but Harry has a good hold on him, he's gone straight down to…Karkaroff._

***

'RUN!' Harry shouted as another wild spell shot out of the room that Karkaroff was being held in, ducking the reflecting green spell Harry and the other wizards took off down the corridor with Pettigrew in hot pursuit. '_Now_ can you tell me what's going on?' he asked the small man as he put on a miraculous burst of speed to draw level with the boy.

'Voldemort's…put…Karkaroff…under…some…sort…of…possession…He's…lost…control…of…his…actions…and…that…wand…grew…out…of…him…' Peter was now fast running out of breath as more spells shot down the corridor. Turning a corner he drew in some breath before continuing, '…or he really is a Muggle hating fanatic, and this was a plan.'

'Good plan!' Harry replied as a fizzing red beam shot down the corridor.

***

'Fire them off Karkaroff,' muttered Voldemort, his eyes shut in concentration and slit nostrils flaring as he drew deep breaths, 'it's time to open the final front.' On saying this his eyes snapped open and he focused on the figure of Lucius Malfoy, he was now calm and stationary, _maybe I should put him back in that trance again when he attacks,_ Voldemort thought before continuing, _no, he needs to be able to think this time_. 'Lucius, get ready to lead in the main assault force, go straight for the Great Hall, capture the families that are there, the rest will soon follow.' Shutting his eyes Voldemort began to work on his puppet inside the school again, nothing would stop him now.

***

Harry jerked his head back as another rogue spell shot past him, this one was a whirling yellow spiral that set portraits and doors on fire when it touched them. 'What is that?'

'Firespin Spell,' muttered one of the Ministry wizards who was also looking around the corner, 'Christ! I though he was just a…a…a…well a bloody raving loony.'

'He is a bloody raving loony,' muttered Viktor.

'That's the idea,' said Peter although no one was listening to him, 'Voldemort never was one for a direct assault.'

'DOBBY!' Harry suddenly shouted causing the other Ministry wizard to jump with fright, he jumped higher when the house elf appeared with a small BANG beside him. As Harry opened his mouth a small table shot past the junction where they hid from Karkaroff, 'Dobby, we have a problem.' Shaking his head like a weary mother Dobby stuck it around the corner and drew back as another Firespin Spell shot past, leaving one of his ears smoking.

'This is indeed a problem sir, I is going to get some help and I is thinking that you should be leaving.'

'Why?' Harry asked with a dubious look on his face.

'It is going to be getting very noisy around here soon sir.'

'Run?' Harry said looking around at everyone else.

'Run' said everyone else.

***

Dumbledore left the battlements with Flitwick still running around, dodging the stretchers that floated the wounded inside Dumbledore ran for the room where Karkaroff was being held. Turning a corner he ran slap bang into Harry who stumbled backwards as the Ministry wizards ran past with Peter, 'Stay with them now or there'll be trouble!' Harry shouted after him.

'There's gonna be trouble anyway!' Peter replied glibly as Viktor and Dumbledore picked the boy up.

'It's Karkaroff isn't it?' Dumbledore asked Viktor as Harry retrieved his wand from the floor.

'Yes, his vand grew out of his arm and before ve knew it he is letting off Firespin Spells and chasing us all over the castle.'

'Dobby's called in reinforcements now though,' Harry said wiping dust off his robes, 'if they are anything like the ones who handled Malfoy there shouldn't be a problem.' As Harry said this, the corridor that they had earlier emerged from suddenly lit up with electric blue lightning and several House Elves came running out. As it died out Dobby came pelting round the corner and practically climbed up Harry in his panic.

'We is leaving now sir, he is a madman with all the spells in the world!' the house elf was panicking in a way that Harry had never seen before. 'I is thinking you should be leaving as well, sorry Mister Dumbledore sir, but we is not able to handle this one.' Suddenly a large red fireball imploded the wall opposite the corridor and with group awareness the two boys and wizard ran while Dobby rode atop Harry's shoulders.

Nearing the end of another corridor they found Peter and the two Ministry wizards who had decide to wait for orders from Dumbledore. Throwing themselves around the corner Harry, Viktor and Dumbledore looked around as the shaking form of Karkaroff emerged. Studying him closely Harry saw that the wizard's eyes were now jet black as if his entire soul had been taken and sure enough his wand was sticking out of the palm of his hand as if attached to the bone beneath it.

'Any ideas?' he whispered to Dumbledore.

'I must admit I'm stumped,' replied the elder, 'I never expected an attack like this.'

'Vell, vot shall ve do, ve can't let him haff the castle to himself.'

'That is correct Viktor, but at this point who's going to be the one to tell him that?' Dumbledore asked it with a familiar twinkle in his eyes that gave Harry little, but some reassurance.

'I have an idea,' muttered Peter but again everyone ignored him, he was after all still a prisoner.

'I think for now we should move,' one of the Ministry wizards said, 'cos he's coming this way again.' As one the group took off with Dobby hanging on to Harry as they sped along to the next intersection.

'Did you know about this Peter?' Dumbledore asked when they got there.

'No, and I don't think Voldemort wanted me along much longer anyway, he tried to kill me by making me lead the charge against Harry's wall.' Peter then turned to Harry after saying this, 'thanks for saving my life by the way, and I think I can return the favour…I just need a wand.'

'Yeah bloody right!' said one of the Ministry wizards as a Firespin Spell shot past, 'say why not just open the front doors for Voldemort?'

'Done,' Dumbledore said, and with his own wand he conjured up a doppelganger for Peter, 'go on…save our lives.'

***

'And now my master plan is complete,' Voldemort said under his breath.

****

Chapter 21: Inner Turmoil

'Are you mad?' asked the Ministry wizard as Peter took the wand from Dumbledore, 'he's one of them! He is one reason we've had so much trouble in our lives.'

'And he will be the reason that some of the trouble disappears,' Dumbledore replied smoothly, 'go to him Peter.'

'I think you should all move back a bit,' Peter muttered, 'unless you want to keep a closer eye on me?' then after crossing himself he levelled the wand and began taking in deep breaths. 'See you…' then with a mad yell he charged around the corner as a Firespin shot past scorching a nearby drape.

'Sir,' Harry attracted Dumbledore's attention, 'can't we help him?'

'Yes, by doing nothing, this will be a powerful confrontation…' as if in response the corridor suddenly emitted a loud BANG as the two wizards met, '…and we should all follow Peter's advice and leave.' Taking Harry by the shoulder Dumbledore led a steady retreat back to the next intersection where he turned and waited. 'You may all go now, I will make sure events stay in some control, Harry, I want you and Viktor to return to the hall, wait there with your friends.' Harry held Dumbledore's gaze for a second before leaving, he could never tell when the old wizard was concealing information but this time there was something wrong. As the boy set off he felt Dobby leap off his shoulders and from the corner of his eye saw the elf move aside a wall stone and enter a passage behind, _probably the safest place to be_, Harry mused, _in between the walls._

***

Up on the battlements Professor Flitwick's defence group were steadily driving back the Death Eaters, with the help of a house elf reinforcement group he had succeeded in clearing a large space if front of the wall. Raising his wand Flitwick began to conjure a complex spell as the Death Eaters looked to try and charge again, pointing his wand at the space he uttered the word that would bring his spell about. A light yellow beam shot into the ground as he shouted over the noise of battle; _'Quagiro!',_ and as the first ranks of Dark Wizards passed into the space they found themselves falling into a deep bog. With a cheer the defenders began to release Stunning Jinxes that quickly decimated the remaining Death Eaters, another assault had failed.

***

Conjuring a cushion out of thin air Peter felt the stones through it as another one of Karkaroff's blasts sent him flying. _'Stupefy!'_ he cried again as the madman charged down but again the spell just seemed to slow him temporarily. Throwing himself out of another blazing red spell Peter resorted to another form of defence, and when the rampaging figure came close enough he lashed out with a solid silver uppercut that connected solidly with bone. Shaking his fist Peter retreated as Karkaroff moved dazedly, 'I hate doing this the old fashion way,' he muttered, in truth he was surprised that the hand Voldemort had created actually allowed him to feel pain.

Behind him he heard a screaming coming up to a crescendo, and turning around he saw Karkaroff rise up again, blood was pouring from his mouth and his eyes had now gone a bone white colour. 'Oh bloody hell,' Peter said in a voice that was almost whiny as he took off around the corner and found it deserted as he had hoped for. However at the end of the next corridor Dumbledore was watching as Peter turned back down the hallway, then came diving back around with hands over his head. The wall behind him was suddenly impacted by about five spells that turned some stones red hot, others ice cold, all of which could have instantly killed him.

Breathing heavily Peter leant up against a wall as the rantings coming from Karkaroff increased, 'I know you're still there Dumbledore,' he shouted, 'I think you should move back a corridor again!'. He was rewarded with a glitter of robe as Dumbledore left, then he shot another spell round the corner, 'round two!' he muttered as five came flying back.

***

Back in the Great Hall Harry found Ron and Dudley sitting at a table while Viktor spotted Hermione over by the windows trying to look outside. As he walked over Harry saw what had attracted her, as bright colours splashed up against the windows from spells. Sitting down by Dudley and Ron, Harry leant out full stretch on the bench and closed his eyes gratefully, so far it had been a long day.

'What took you so long?' Dudley asked and nudged Harry with his foot.

'Karkaroff's gone mad and escaped,' he replied, 'we've put Peter up against him and Dumbledore's keeping an eye on it.'

'How did he get out?' Ron asked, 'I thought he was being watched.'

'Voldemort did some sort of Transfiguring spell on him, his wand grew out of his arm and all hell broke loose, even Dobby couldn't stop him.'

'Damn…he can't, you know get anyone else with a spell can he?' asked Ron, unsuccessfully hiding a small quiver in his voice.

'No…I think it has to be a voluntary gesture by his target.'

'Volunteer to have my wand grow out of my arm,' Ron began, 'um – let me think – No!'

'Ah go on now,' said Dudley picking up a splinter and waving it around, 'it won't hurt a bit!' Smiling into the ceiling Harry watched the sky as Dudley proceeded to chase Ron around the table, waving the splinter and shouting out 'Turkey' repeatedly.

***

Diving under a table Peter counted his blessings as the Firespin Spell burnt off the top and not him, this was getting too close. Crawling out he looked back and saw Karkaroff readying another batch of spells, there were two options, run or be burnt, Peter opted for run. At the end of the next corridor Albus watched as once again Peter dove round the corner just ahead of some spells, this wasn't working well, they were getting closer to the hall, what he needed was: 'Binky!' and with a bang he arrived.

'What is you wanting sir?' asked the elf, very wary of the spells following another wizard down the hall to his right.

'I want you to put a seal on the Great Hall doors, knowing our luck the battle is heading that way.' No sooner had he finished then the elf was away with another bang as an even larger one resulted in Peter sliding into the wall across from Dumbledore.

'Okay…' Peter said, 'now I need your help.'

***

'You is all going inside please!' Binky was shouting as he herded people into the hall, 'Mister Dumbledore is requesting it himself.'

'Wonder what's happening,' Ron remarked, and then with a bang that sent him flying off the table Dobby appeared next to Harry.

'I is sorry Harry's Wheezey,' Dobby said, pulling him up with an elf charm, 'I is wanting to get in quickly, that battle is heading this way.'

'Which one?' Harry asked Dobby, 'not Karkaroff and Peter?'

'Yes indeed, I is not happy about it. Dumbledore wishes to try and get the mad one outside.'

'Makes sense.'

'It will be difficult though,' Dobby said fretfully, 'I is not liking what Dumbledore is doing, he may be getting his self hurt.'

***

'Come on Peter,' Dumbledore said jogging off calmly as Pettigrew picked himself off the floor then ducked another wild spell, 'this is no time to mess about. We're going to take Igor outside now.'

'How, he'll get into the main hall or something,' Peter replied as he began running alongside his old mentor.

'Except the House Elves have sealed all of the entrances, only the most powerful Dark Magic could get in there, Voldemort can't give it to Karkaroff.'

'So, if I can recap, the plan is…' another explosion lit the hall behind him, '…RUN!' and with a turn of speed both wizards ran for the Entrance Hall.

***

'This is going far better than I imagined,' Voldemort crooned as he stared through Karkaroff's eyes, 'Get your people ready to go now Lucius, the time is coming nearer.' In the background Malfoy exited the cavern and a small pop indicated he had apparated back to Hogwarts.

***

'Stay back,' shouted a Ministry wizard who was near the doors to the Great Hall as Binky and several other elves raised their arms and aimed for the doors. Chanting in unison the gaps around the doors turned red and a fusing sound filled the hall as the doors and walls merged as one.

***

Skidding around the corner into the Entrance Hall Dumbledore and Peter ran and slid behind two pillars as a clutch of spells shot out of the corridor. 'Think he'll come this way?' Peter whispered in the suddenly quiet room.

'Think he won't?' Dumbledore replied quietly with a small smile. As it was Karkaroff arrived shortly later and began shuffling around the hall, then started towards the doors to the Great Hall when they merged into the brickwork entirely. Screaming with rage Karkaroff turned around as Dumbledore and Peter stepped out from behind their pillars, wands raised and aimed over Karkaroff's heart. 'I think you should stop now Igor,' Dumbledore said calmly as Karkaroff waved his wand wildly while not releasing any spells.

'K-k…' from gritted teeth Karkaroff tried to form words while tears flowed from the whited out eyes that had replaced his own, '…k-k-k-ki-kill m-m-m-m-me…p-plea-please…Albus m-m-my fri-friend-d-d…' then another uncontrollable scream rose out of his throat. His mouth suddenly snapped shut and his wand focused on the main doors as Peter and Dumbledore steadied their wand arms on the raving man again.

'Peter, Stunning Jinxes on three,' Dumbledore said evenly, staring directly into Karkaroff's sightless eyes.

'But he said to…to…' Peter stuttered as Karkaroff became rooted to the spot.

'I know what he said,' Dumbledore replied calmly, 'I also know that we can reverse what Voldemort has done and that Igor won't bend entirely to his will. On three Peter, stand firm.'

***

Deep in the cavern Voldemort was all alone when he felt Karkaroff fighting back from releasing the final spell at Dumbledore and Peter. 'Oh, so you're back you Muggle loving idiot,' he muttered injecting his thoughts into Karkaroff's head, 'well, you've fulfilled your purpose and I have no need of you, goodbye Igor…_Avada Kedavra.'_ On speaking the words he felt the spell's power building up inside him as it moved through his mind and into Karkaroff's, killing what little humanity had remained there. 'Now the fun begins.'

***

'What was that?' Peter asked as Karkaroff suddenly glowed green in front of them.

'I don't know,' Dumbledore replied as Karkaroff's body suddenly became limp, his eyes returned to normal, and his jaw sagged open, 'but I don't like it.' As he spoke the words, Karkaroff's head began to swivel around as if looking at the school for the first time, then the eyes fixed on Dumbledore and Peter. Studying them closely the two wizards saw that the pupils had now turned a fiery red, it only took a seconds for Dumbledore to realise what had happened. 'He's under full possession Peter,' he said quickly steadying his wand again, 'we have to kill him.'

'But you said that–'

'We can't reverse it, Igor is already dead,' he spoke the words with little emotion, but in his heart he felt the pain of losing an old friend. 'That's Voldemort incarnate if you will.'

__

'I do will,' said the figure that had been Karkaroff in Voldemort's sibilant tones, _'and now I feel this siege is coming to an end…my end.'_ and as his voice increased in shrillness his wand slowly levelled up to the main doors. Slowly Karkaroff's body began to glow red with raw magical energy as Voldemort built up power for the spell that would end the battle.

'Use the Killing Curse,' Dumbledore said urgently to Peter, 'I think this is a situation in which we can be sure an auror would.' Both wizards raised their wands as Voldemort began to chant through the limply hanging body and shot the green spells that failed to change anything, even the dead eyes remained without fading to a sightless grey. Grimly continuing to fire shots into the lifeless body Dumbledore watched as the energy built up to a fiery corona that surrounded the body entirely, then the wand in Karkaroff's hand snapped down swiftly. 'MOVE PETER!'

With a harsh cackle Voldemort released all the energy into the main doors of the castle causing the whole building to shake as they began to glow red. _'Time to die Hogwarts,'_ Voldemort screamed, _'and for me to have a final rebirth into glory.'_ Running away from the doors the last thing that Dumbledore could remember was hearing and feeling an enormous explosion erupt around him…then everything around him faded into darkness.


	8. Parts 22 - 24

****

Chapter 22: The Castle Falls

'That did not sound good.' Harry said the sentence and was surprised at how loud it sounded in the suddenly silent hall.

'Give that man a prize,' Dudley muttered as hushed whispers suddenly erupted throughout the hall.

***  


Using borrowed eyes Voldemort looked around the Entrance Hall, it was a picture of destruction, the doors had been completely blown off their hinges, marble tiles and stonework littered the floor. Sighing in the cave Voldemort withdrew his mind from the body he had inhabited briefly, 'I must do that again sometime.'

***

Without the mad screaming and yelling Lucius Malfoy led the main Death Eater force into the Entrance Hall, ignoring the rubble and chaos that was clustered around them. 'Get the doors open,' Malfoy said pointing with his wand and several robed wizards moved forwards and began to release blue beams that began to shift the brickwork away from the doors.

***

Inside the hall Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map to check the situation outside and it almost fell from his hands when he saw the names of the group who were now there. He swore loudly and attracted the attention of several mothers who gave him stares as they covered the younger children's ears, then Harry left the table and ran to the window where Dudley and Ron had joined Hermione and Viktor. 'Guys we have a big problem,' he said producing the map and then letting them look over it while he focused on the doors where the House Elves were now struggling to maintain the camouflage. 'What do we do?'

'Tell Fudge first,' Viktor said managing to be calm and collected, 'then ve haff to get these people out of here.' Staring around the room Harry realised this was easier said then done, but went to find Fudge all the same. Climbing onto the Ravenclaw table he scanned the hall for the Minister and was surprised when Cho climbed up beside him.

'What's going on Harry?' she asked, 'who are we looking for?'

'Fudge,' Harry said, answering only the second question, 'I have to tell him something important.' Then he resumed looking with Cho glancing around.

'That's not all that's happening though, is it?' and Harry turned to look straight at her, 'what's going on Harry?'

'There are Death Eaters in the castle,' Harry said it quickly and quietly, 'just don't let on you know, see if you can find a way to get people out, ask Hermione and everyone else to do the same.'

'How?'

'I don't know, but I've got to tell Fudge and we all have to do something before they get in here.' Looking over to the doors Harry found Fudge and turned back to Cho, 'good luck…we're all gonna need it.'

'Good luck Harry,' Cho whispered as he took off, then with a small leap she ran over to where Hermione waited for an idea on what to do.

'Minister Fudge!' Harry shouted over the chanting of the elves as he got nearer and was rewarded when the wizard turned away from the doors and moved towards him. Not wasting any time Harry produced the map and showed Fudge what was going on outside, then he turned to the people in the hall, 'how are we going to get them out?'

***

'A few more seconds should do it Lucius, then we're through the doors.'

'Excellent, remember, Stunning Jinxes only, we want prisoners to recall most of the defenders from the walls.' Sneering to himself Malfoy felt contempt for the people in Hogwarts who had tried to stop the Dark Lord, surely now his will would be done.

'NOW!' shouted one of the Death Eaters and with an enormous slurping noise the doors were pulled free of the mortar.

'Enter my friends,' Lucius said, then a deep chuckle erupted from his mouth as the first Death Eater started to open the doors.

***

The first Harry and Fudge knew the spell had failed was when the backlash from the Death Eater spell sent most of the House Elves flying across the room, several with small fires on their hair and coats. 'Harry!' Fudge almost shouted, 'get as many out as you can through the passages, MINISTRY WIZARDS TO ME!' and with a small shove he sent Harry back into the hall.

'Over here Harry!' he heard Hermione's voice above the general panic that was emerging and the crashing of tables that signalled the makeshift barricade the Ministry was putting up around the doors. 'What do we do?' she asked quickly when he arrived at the group.

'Get as many out by secret corridors as possible, get Fred and George to help you, they know this place inside out, everyone else just try and find them.' Splitting quickly the group ran to all the points where they knew there were exits, on the way Harry passed Malfoy at the Slytherin table. 'Death Eaters outside!' he shouted, 'get everyone out by the secret passages!'

Eyes widening Draco ran immediately to a shield adorning the wall across from the Slytherin table, _'Bisectorium!'_ he cried and with a groaning the shield split in half to reveal an earthen passage. Placing his fingers on his lips he released a piercing whistle that attracted the attention of nearby families, 'In here everyone, quickly!'

Running over to the head table Harry looked at the map and found the trapdoor underneath it, tapping his wand against it he read the text and shouted aloud, 'Pull to open!' then nothing happened. Suddenly a ginger haired twin rushed past and pulled up a teachers chair that was screwed onto the trapdoor, and visibly kicking himself Harry called for people to go down the ladder that emerged…then all hell broke loose.

'CHAAAAAAAARGE!' cried Malfoy and with a roar the first wave of Death Eaters ran into the Great Hall, its doors now wide open for all. Staying at the back Malfoy watched as the first row promptly collapsed on entering having run full tilt into the twenty or so Stunning Jinxes the flew over the makeshift barricades that had been erected. _'Expelliarmus!'_ he cried and with a colossal BANG one of the tables flew apart as the disarming spell punched through the wooden surface. Laughing to himself Lucius began to walk forwards when he noticed a familiar body lying beside the door, turning it over with his foot, he revealed Peter's bloodied face. Snorting with contempt he kicked the body aside, as Voldemort had said, the traitors would all pay eventually.

'Everybody, down here!' Harry shouted and gestured but in the panic no one seemed to want to follow him down into the passages, across the hall the situation was similar. At least Draco had got some out before the fight had begun but now it was impossible to get anyone's attention, even Ron's bright hair hadn't attracted a few looks. Then running through the crowd he saw Dudley dragging Aunt Petunia behind him as random shots began to fly into the hall.

'DOWN!' cried George and with a thud he collided into Harry as a blue stunner shot towards him and impacted against the wall. 'Be careful Harry,' he said as he helped him up, 'it appears the world's gone mad.' Then he ran off to try and get people into the passages before…but then the Death Eaters were among them.

'Quickly!' Harry shouted at Dudley and with forceful strides his cousin and aunt arrived at the passage, 'go down and I'll be there soon, help anyone else who arrives.' Then, ducking and diving about Harry ran out into the hall to try and get more people. Over by the entrance he saw Draco disappear into the wall having blasted back an approaching Death Eater, they were everywhere! Over the yells he tried to pick out the rest of his friends, but again he just caught sight of their cloaks or faces as they ducked into the passages away from attacks. Even the house elves, who had the most powerful magic available, were retreating under the pressure, ducking another spell Harry looked up and saw Dobby disappear in a bright flash as two Death Eaters charged towards him.

Standing by the table Harry was about to retreat when two small blurs ran into him, falling over he saw Colin and Dennis Creevey lying opposite him. 'C'mon,' he said and almost dragging both he led them to the trapdoor, 'where are your parents?' he asked but the boys were already down the ladder. Turning quickly, Harry looked around at the hall which was now overrun by Death Eaters, cursing he withdrew into the passage, what had happened out there? And where was Dumbledore?

***

Sighing painfully Dumbledore shifted his position within the hollow pillar, his left arm was broken at least once and half of his face felt like it was on fire. Muttering rapidly he tapped his wand on his arm and a cold blue light fell around it, setting and healing the bone. Gritting his teeth against the pain he felt a tear winding down his cheek, his castle had fallen…

***

Lying stiller than he imagined possible Peter felt his life slowly ebbing away from his broken body, the blast had sent him flying into a pillar. Most of his vital organs had been crushed, even now he could feel one of his lungs collapsing under some broken ribs. _Well, at least I can die with a clearer conscience…_

***

Inside the Great Hall most of the Ministry wizards lay stunned on the floor or under the wands of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Chuckling at the destruction which littered his ex-school, Lucius turned the Announcement Charm onto himself, cleared his throat and began to speak to the school. 'Now here this…

***

__

'HOGWARTS ACADEMY IS NOW UNDER THE CONTROL OF LORD VOLDEMORT, WE HAVE TAKEN THE GREAT HALL AND HAVE HOSTAGES…'

On the battlements Flitwick and the defenders lowered their wands as the announcement rang out, Arthur slumped against the wall and sank slowly to the floor.

__

'I SUGGEST ANYONE WHO WISHES TO SEE THEIR CHILDREN, WIVES OR WHATEVER FAMILY THEY HAVE, ALIVE, THEY GIVE UP NOW. ANYONE WHO IS NOT IN THIS COMPLEX SITUATION SHOULD SURRENDER ANYWAY, OR WE'LL KILL SOMEONE ELSE'S FAMILY TO MAKE UP FOR IT. LEAVE YOUR WANDS AND REPORT TO THE GREAT HALL, YOU HAVE A NEW HEADMASTER TO LISTEN TO…'

Throwing his crossbow off the wall Vernon cursed out loud, then with a resigned slump he began to slowly trek towards the hall.

***

Deep underneath the hall Harry, with his small group of escapees, heard the announcement and cursed in a similar fashion to his uncle. Turning back to his family and the Creevey brothers he signalled to move down the passage, _'Lumos'_ he muttered and with a small spark his wand lit the way. Crawling on hands and knees Harry pulled out the map and scanned the hall, there were now about a hundred Death Eaters in there. Looking more carefully he also found Molly Weasley, Ginny, Justin, Ernie, Professors Sinistra and Sprout, Madam Pomfrey, and then moving into the hall were his uncle and Arthur Weasley. Cursing again Harry scanned the tunnels and found the spot where they all met, Draco was moving towards there quickly while the rest were slowly gathering their thoughts and leaving. Why had it all gone so damned wrong? Returning to the map Harry looked outside the hall and found the three dots he was searching for, Dumbledore was inside a pillar, but Peter's and Karkaroff's dots and tags were slowly fading away…

***

Looking through a gap in the mouth he had climbed through Ron could have reached out and pulled his sister inside, _then he could have fought off Voldemort's horde and been creamed like a bug,_ Ron added as an afterthought. He didn't notice the hot tears that were flowing down his face as he watched the Death Eaters move his only sister and mother into the centre of the room where everyone else was slowly being herded. 'C'mon Ron,' he turned to see Fred in his wandlight, 'we're gonna see who we can find at the place where all these passages meet.'

***

'Time for a glorious entrance,' Voldemort said in an almost happy tone as he prepared for arriving in Hogwarts. Reaching out he used the Imperius spell on Malfoy, _cast the reverse summoning spell on you Dark Mark…_

***

In the Great Hall, Malfoy stepped into the centre of the crowd of wizards, witches, parents and children who had been caught by the Death Eaters or surrendered. With a hushed atmosphere he slowly pulled back the sleeve that covered his Dark Mark and placing his wand on it, he muttered, _'Oicca!'_ and with a gasp of pain the mark turned completely red and blood leaked from the edges. Suddenly the candlelit hall dimmed as electric green bolts surged out from it's centre, plucking at the flames of the candles and extinguishing them until only a few remained and it was a towering pillar that shot up and swamped the ceiling, hiding the outside world from view. It diminished rapidly and exploded outwards as green flames that washed over everyone without burning, and when the crowd turned back in the centre of the hall stood their most feared and greatest nightmare…Lord Voldemort had returned.

***

Deep beneath the Great Hall Harry's group pressed onwards even as the ground around them turned a vivid green, then with a small cry of pain Harry's scar lit up bright green and he collapsed unnoticed at the back of the crawling line. The castle had fallen, and so had the heroes defending it…

****

Chapter 23: Recovery and Revenge

Inside his pillar, Dumbledore had heard Malfoy's announcement and had felt the results of Voldemort's arrival in the building. Sighing with pain he shifted around and pressed his toe against a small ridge causing the ground beneath him to disappear, revealing a small spiral staircase that led to the network of passages running beneath the school. Stumbling down he tripped on the last step and fell heavily onto his back with a click, 'ah…' he whispered to no one in particular, 'I needed that.' Then with nothing else to do he passed into a blissful unconsciousness.

***

Beneath the hall and in the labyrinth of tunnels George knew he had found the small cave when the ground he'd been crawling on abruptly vanished and he fell head over heels on top of Viktor who had just emerged from the tunnel below his. With much confused waving of wands and threats the two almost blew each other to kingdom come before Hermione illuminated the cave and the two fighters realised who they were.

Breathing outwards in relief the two almost had a heart attack when a door in the floor opened and Dennis and Colin came bundling out, closely followed by Dudley and his mother. Leaning against the walls and breathing slowly as more people filtered into the cave it was only when Ron arrived that Hermione realised someone was missing. 'Hey guys,' she whispered, loudly in the muffled room, 'where's Harry?'

***

Harry lay unconscious in the tunnel through which some of his family and the Creevey brothers had crawled to relative freedom underground. With a sudden flash in the darkness Dobby and Binky appeared beside Harry, 'We is taking him to the kitchen,' Dobby said picking up one of Harry's limp arms. With another flash the two house elves and Harry disappeared, leaving only the Marauder's Map lying on the floor bleakly showing the forces of Voldemort spreading throughout the castle.

A few minutes later a muddy faced Dudley crawled past followed by a similarly caked Ron who saw the map, grabbing it he picked it up to find Harry Potter had totally disappeared from the map. Cursing out loud Ron threw it aside and leant against the tunnel wall, his face buried in his hands, could anything else possibly go wrong?

***

In the hospital wing Lupin attempted to pull his foot out from under the massive slab that had fallen onto him, as soon as Malfoy's announcement had rung out most of the remaining wizards and elves in the room had stopped firing. A few seconds later a howitzer shell had detonated in the middle of the wall, tearing the room apart, as well as several wizards and elves unable to put up any Shield Charms. Groaning out loud he tried to shift the block again and was about to let it fall back when a bloodied pair of knuckles caught it.

Looking up Lupin stared into the darkened eyes of Severus Snape, 'Hurry up Remus,' he grunted, 'I can't hold this all day.' Using his hand Lupin shifted out and with a crash Severus dropped the slab back down as soon as his leg was free.

'I owe you one…thanks.'

'Help me with Weasley then,' was the muttered reply, and following his gesture Lupin saw the crumpled form of Percy, his head lying in a spreading pool of blood.

'Oh god no,' Remus let the words flow out as they turned him over, his glasses were completely shattered and the right side of his face was covered in blood.

'It's cosmetic only, I think,' Severus said heavily, lifting aside a mop of Percy's hair he revealed a jagged cut, 'use a healing spell will you?'

Placing Percy in Lupin's arms Severus wandered off, checking the other bodies of the wizards and house elves who had been in the room. Muttering under his breath Lupin sealed the wound that was adorning Percy's head when the door to the wing suddenly burst open and fell from its hinges with an almighty crash. Training his wand on the doorway Lupin lowered it with relief when a large black dog gingerly padded its way through the rubble then as it neared Lupin, Sirius rose from all fours and crouched down beside Percy.

'Is this Arthur's boy?'

'Yes,' Lupin replied quietly, 'they put a shell into the room when we stopped firing.'

'Heartless bastards,' Sirius cursed, 'all that talk of give yourself up, and then this…' flailing his arms around Sirius came to a rest on a small body. 'Winky…' moving slowly he turned the house elf over and stared into eyes that would see no more, closing her eyelids he picked up a torn bedsheet and draped it over the frail form.

'So what the hell do we do now?' Remus said.

'First,' Snape replied after a pause from across the room, 'we disappear…' sliding open a secret panel he conjured a stretcher under Percy and the two moved inside. Placing an arm under Lupin and lifting him up, Sirius supported his hobbling friend and they too disappeared into the wall before sliding the panel on the bloody scene of death that had once been a hospital.

***

Strutting around the Great Hall with the residents of Hogwarts around him Voldemort let ou a great sigh as he finally collapsed into the headmaster's chair. Staring out at the frightened or demoralised faces before him he began speaking to the crowd; 'I always knew this chair would suit me…really I should have become headmaster sooner.' With a smirk he looked around at the total lack of reaction to his joke by the crowd, 'oh come, come my friends, surely you agree that I would be a great headmaster to your children. I would fill their minds with the knowledge that made me great so they in turn could spread my will throughout the entire world. Actually yes, Lucius, how is my world-wide campaign going?'

'A grand success my lord,' Malfoy replied in a smug tone, 'most of the major Ministries of Magic have been destroyed by our forces with overwhelming odds.'

'Ah yes,' Voldemort almost sung, 'another advantage that I have, your never ending belief that there is enough good in the world to overcome me. How many Death Eaters do I have now worldwide, half the wizarding population? Surely you realise you can never defeat me, and with the Dementors, vampires and all dark creatures beside me how can I fail to win?'

'Except for those traitorous giants now my lord,' Malfoy crooned from the side.

'Of course,' Voldemort's red eyes locked onto Hagrid's massive form, 'and how was your little trip abroad with Olympe, did you have much success Rubeus?'

'Yeh know the giants will never follow yeh again, why'd yeh bother askin'.' Hagrid's response rumbled across the hall and his two meaty fists involuntarily clenched tightly by his side.

'Such brave words for your people, that's if they ever show themselves again,' Voldemort's lips thinned as he spat out a response, 'too afraid aren't you?'

'We'll take anythin' that yeh can throw at us,' was the fierce reply.

'Really?' Voldemort retorted, drawing out the words, 'how about you take this then?' and raising his wand the Dark Wizard released a golden stream of light that caught Hagrid in the stomach. With a loud cry the groundsman flew into the wall with a sickening crunch and landed face down on the hard floor, one of his arms twisted backwards. 'How clumsy of me!' was the simpering exclamation, 'now who do I need to see next?' around the hall the Death Eaters began to laugh and shout while in the centre families moved together and colleagues put on brave faces.

***

A flickering in the corner of his eye caused Harry to jerk upright sending the sheet that had covered him flying, gasping he sat upright on a table near a roaring fire. 'Be still sir!', he heard a squeaky voice and soon helpful hands were getting Harry to down onto the table and a cushion was placed behind his back. Turning his head Harry looked into the saucer wide eyes of Dobby, 'me and Binky is finding you in a tunnel sir, we is not knowing about anyone else.' The house elf added the last part quickly in case Harry should get any ideas about moving or even running off to find his friends.

'Wha's happenin'?' he asked with a raspy voice.

'Too much sir,' Dobby replied as another elf handed him a bowl of soup, 'you is drinking this while I tell you please.' Harry gratefully accepted the soup and while he drank it down Dobby continued; 'We is not knowing too much about in the Great Hall, but from the hospital wing we is knowing that it is destroyed…' on saying this Dobby paused while Harry sprayed out a mouthful of soup. '…There is a lot of casualties sir, I is knowing Mr. Lupin and Master Weasley is alive, they were not there when we returned. Professor Snape is also not there so we is certain he is hidden somewhere…many friends are not being alive though…Harry Potter, Winky is dead.' When Dobby said it Harry suddenly saw floods of tears roll down the elf's face despite him not crying out loud.

'Dobby…I…' but Harry couldn't say anything as the elf placed a spoonful of soup in his mouth.

'We is all upset Harry Potter,' Dobby said the words quietly, 'but now we must worry about what to do, You-Know-Who has arrived in the school, we is scared but ready to help.'

'I…' Harry had no idea what on earth they could do, instead he just spooned more soup into his mouth, feeling the liquid soothe his dusty and sore throat.

'It is okay Harry Potter,' Dobby whispered, 'we is not out of hope.'

***

__

Well I can't accomplish anything lying here all day, Dumbledore thought, despite the fun he had had so far staring at the ceiling of the tunnel. Groaning to himself he rose from the floor and twisted his back experimentally, at least the fall had put something back to normal. Leaning against one of the earthen walls it was at times like this Dumbledore wished he had a photographic memory, he had no clue where this particular tunnel went.

Keeping one hand against the wall Dumbledore began to walk without knowing his destination, stumbling over the ground he soon found that he was walking in a large spiral taking him deeper and deeper into the school's foundations. _That's odd,_ he commented to himself, _I thought only the kitchens were below ground, and I've passed them already at this depth._ Ignoring the feeling of concern, the elderly wizard continued his progress until the magical light that had kept his path alit suddenly faded.

__

'Lumos,' he whispered in the resulting darkness and with a small spark his wand produced a brilliant orange glow that lit the tunnel around him. With a small gasp he turned to the nearest wall, instead of the familiar roughly hewed earth he found the beginning of a finely crafted stone wall. Carved upon the wall were images and words in a variety of languages, some he could not guess at but he was sure a castle was Hogwarts, and that…that one of the figures carved beside it was…him.

Pulling his robe around him as if chilled he held the wand closer, light seemed to spill off of it and onto the wall, that figure beside him, that was Balthasar Dippet, the previous headmaster. Moving quickly Dumbledore moved along the tunnel, along the line of headteachers until he came to the end, and there the path split four ways. Holding is breath without realising, Dumbledore moved the wand in so close it was almost touching the nearest figure, beneath them were four names written in dense script:

**__**

Godric Gryffindor

Salazar Slytherin

Helga Hufflepuff

Rowena Ravenclaw

The school founders, looking back Dumbledore saw that generations had come and gone several times, the age of the school was…he had know it was long, but to pass so many generations. Almost oblivious to the fate above of the school he had served for such a short time in its history, he continued to study the carvings, moving further along the tunnel as he attempted to translate some of the script. The whole time he was unaware of the eyes gazing upon him as he walked onwards…

***

'Where are we?' Sirius hissed as he walked into Lupin for the fifth time in as many minutes.

'I don't know,' Lupin whispered back fiercely, 'but my back is beginning to hurt.'

'Stop stopping suddenly then,' Sirius said nudging his friend into the back.

'You are heading for a fight Padfoot,' Lupin said over his shoulder.

'Anytime Moony.'

'Will you both shut up!' Snape suddenly interrupted, 'it's like we were back in school, you could never stop arguing then.'

'We did not!' they both shot back.

'Anyway, you were both Marauders, how in god's holy name do we get out of here?'

'Easy,' Sirius said over Lupin's head, 'just push that little button, and hey…' the wall slid away to reveal the corridor by the charms classroom, and the five Death Eaters who had just walked into it, '…presto.'

***

'So what now?' Harry croaked to Dobby as the soup began to smooth his sore throat but before the elf could reply another came running up.

'Dobby,' he squeaked quickly, 'there is another fight out by the Charm's classroom, we is thinking they are cut off defenders.'

'Stay here Harry Potter, I is letting Binky look after you,' and then he was running to the main group of house elves, within a second several had flicked out for the fight. Sighing Harry turned to the house elf who had remained by his side.

'You must be Binky.'

'Yes I am, Harry Potter sir.'

'Just call me Harry,' he mumbled as he drank more soup, it wasn't that he minded the house elf's obvious reverence, but it was so annoying to hear it. 'Do you know what has been happening anywhere else in Hogwarts?'

'We is knowing that You-Know-Who has taken over the Great Hall and most people are moving there. There are still small battles all over the castle, not everyone has surrendered, there are lots more passages then Death Eaters.'

'Passages…' Harry trailed off then grabbed Binky's arm with a sudden jerk, 'I left people in the passages under the hall!'

'That is no problem,' Binky replied, 'there are no Death Eaters near there, but I is sending some elves to get them anyway, wait here please Harry Potter, and do not be moving.' With nothing else to do Harry watched as the house elf ran back to the crowd in the kitchen, then another three flicked out from the sides.

***

'So vot do ve do now?' Viktor asked Hermione while the rest of the escapees sat dejectedly around the outside, Ron and Dudley had returned without Harry a few minutes earlier.

'I don't know,' she replied, 'but the most sensible thing to do is wait for something to happen.'

'And what if that something is a Death Eater coming from one of those holes?' asked Fred while his brother tried to talk to a deeply depressed Ron. opening her mouth to reply Hermione was silenced as three miniature explosions landed in the centre of the room. 'Or if that happens instead?' Fred continued, whipping out his wand.

'If this happens you is please doing nothing,' came a squeaky voice and from the shadows came a small house elf, 'we is coming to get you out, Harry Potter is sending us.'

'You mean he's alive?' Ron blurted out.

'Of course he is alive sir,' replied another house elf who was busy drawing a symbol on the floor, 'he is only a bit woozy though, his scar is lighting up again we is thinking.' Completing the symbol the elves began to hustle people politely into the centre, then raising their paws they began to chant, 'hold on sirs and madams,' the elf squeaked as they finished, then violet energy shot from the hands of the elves and lit up the symbol. With a small bang everyone inside it disappeared, three smaller bangs were heard and then the elves were gone leaving a deserted cave deep under the hall.

***

'Um…' Sirius said as the Death Eaters turned to face the three men and unconscious body on a floating stretcher, '…_Stupefy!'_ and as the first Dark Wizard went flying into the wall the curses shot back and forth. After the first volley both sides found their aim ruined by the smoke that had erupted into the small corridor. Even more amazing for Sirius was that none of their small group had been hit despite being outnumbered.

The biggest surprise emerged though when the smoke cleared and instead of four battleweary wizards, one who was unconscious, the Death Eaters found themselves facing four wizards, one of whom was still unconscious, but there were also six very angry looking house elves. Muttering under their breath they flung their arms forwards and when the green smoke cleared a second later, the remaining four Death Eaters lay in a heap of unconscious bodies.

'Well that was fun,' Severus said wryly.

***

With a groan Professor Flitwick fell to the floor after being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse for trying to prevent Malfoy hurling a Muggle parent through a window. Most of the hall was now either shouting at the top of their lungs while cursing at the Death Eaters or remaining huddled together for protection. 'Still you try and defy me, it's pitiful,' Voldemort muttered to himself before raising is voice to the entire hall, 'why? Why do you defy me?' he spat the question out but no one answered.

'Don't tell me you still believe that Muggle loving old fool Dumbledore will save you all, he's gone, vaporised, his body couldn't even take a simple explosion. Right now he's looking on you from the other side while I tear this place apart, there's no hope for any of you, no hope at all. Why do you even bother pretending?' the whole time he was becoming more and more furious, voice raising in intensity. 'If he was here he would be powerless,' turning around Voldemort aimed his wand at the stirring body of Hagrid, 'I can do what I want, and I will,' muttering under his breath Voldemort sent the same golden beam out at the struggling man.

With a grunt of effort Hagrid rose and punched the nearest Death Eater flying before the beam caught his midriff again, with a sickening crack Arthur saw part of his chest implode and with a crash the half-giant was sent flying through one of the hall's windows, and rolling down the slope away from the castle.

In the hall Voldemort brought a fist down on the table with such force that it split, 'Hogwarts is mine.'

****

Chapter 24: Developments

Groaning slightly Harry levered his back up against the pillow that Binky had propped behind him, there had been a small explosion in the centre of the kitchen that most of the elves had rushed over to. Fearing the worst Harry had gripped his wand and trained it over the spot where they had clustered, only to see them burst apart as Ron and Dudley ran over to Harry. Smiling with relief Harry lowered his wand as the two came over, but it soon faded as they began bickering from both sides.

'Disappeared, what the hell were you–'

'I thought you'd gone and died you–'

'Scared mum half to death–'

'Hey!' he shouted before they could overwhelm him, 'I was unconscious, Dobby brought me here.'

'Where is Dobby?' asked Viktor who had just joined the group with Hermione.

'He said there was a fight somewhere, he went to help with some friends.'

'And bloody brilliant he was too!' came a familiar voice as three figures stepped out from a passage that had opened in the floor. Grinning Sirius stepped out and dusted himself causing a small green cloud to arise, 'course we had the situation under control.'

'Mmm…' said Lupin as he two emerged, '…under perfect control, just like when you were knocked into the lake by the Whomping Willow. I believe that was just after you said that–'

'Alright, alright. We had absolutely no control over the situation whatsoever but then Dobby and co came along and saved out butts, that okay Remus?'

'Perfectly adequate Sirius.' Lupin replied with a small grin at his friend's easy collapse. 

'I hate to interrupt the reunion,' Severus said, 'but we have slightly bigger problems to worry about then what we just faced. Any ideas on what to do Lupin, with Dumbledore gone you're next in his chain of command.'

'He's not gone,' Harry interjected, 'he's stuck in a pillar in the Entrance Hall, look on the map.' Reaching into his robes Ron withdrew the map and gave it to Lupin and Snape who spread it out on the table beside Harry. 'Hey, how come we're not on there?'

'I changed it for Albus over the holidays,' Lupin said to Harry, 'he wanted certain rooms excluded, the kitchens were one of them.'

'Look, our common room is missing!' Hermione said with surprise, 'why would he do that?'

'I don't know, but Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff must be missing as well,' Sirius added, 'I definitely remember putting them in.'

'We put everything in,' Lupin replied, 'we even managed to put a charm on for the rooms that move around or disappear. Harry, I can't find Dumbledore anywhere, show me the pillar.'

'It's right there,' Harry obliged, pointing at the column where he had seen Dumbledore's spot, but now there was just a circle. 'I don't understand, he couldn't have gone out, there are Death Eaters all around there, and you can't apparate inside the castle.' He added the last comment before Hermione could for him and shot her a wink across the parchment.

'Where the hell did he go then?' asked Ron.

***

Deep underground Dumbledore had lost all sense of time and was only quietly comforted by the familiar presence of the castle founders nearby. He had wandered along the passage for what had seemed like miles but so far had found no end to the magnificent wall. The line of headteachers had been replaced by one showing the construction of Hogwarts, then of early history; goblin rebellions, dragon attacks, unicorns wandering safely in the wild.

__

Who is he?

Almost jumping out of his robes Dumbledore spun as he heard the voice nearby, it had been quiet before and once again ascended into a deafening silence. Shaking his head Dumbledore returned to a wall but had only studied it for a second when a new voice entered his hearing.

****

Must be Dumbledore, the new one.

This time he did jump and with a small crack he hit his head on the ceiling, gasping at the sudden pain the old wizard slowly slid down the wall to unconsciousness.

NOW YOU'VE DONE IT.

__

Quiet, you silly old man, he'll wake up again.

****

Looks a bit young for a headteacher doesn't he?

__

Desperate times…

…DESPERATE MEASURES.

***

Vernon Dursley knew he was probably going to die soon anyway, uncle of Harry Potter and a Muggle, that was a real attention seeker for the crazed man in the castle. That was why he stood up after Hagrid had been thrown through the window. That was why he was now staring into two red eyes that showed no mercy or compassion and now he was shouting as well, brilliant.

'What?' Voldemort whispered.

'You heard me you evil bastard,' Vernon sneered back at the Dark Wizard. All the hatred that he had felt for the wizarding world was now directed at Voldemort, he was the reason for all of it. 'You're just a psycho with no place in life so you ruin others, you have no family so you decide that why should anyone else should have one?'

'You Muggle fool, how could you hope to understand anything about me?'

'SHUT UP! I WASN'T FINISHED WITH YOU,' Vernon shouted so loud that even Voldemort looked taken aback at his anger. 'You take families and decide that isn't enough so you try to get rid of all that is decent in this life but that still isn't enough. And do you know why? I'll tell you why, because when it all comes down to it you're nothing but a petty child.'

'Stop.'

'No I won't stop because the child tells me too, you're just angry at the entire world because you could never have what you wanted.'

'STOP!'

'NO! YOU JUST CAN'T ACCEPT ANYTHING THAT IS REAL, YOU NEED YOUR OWN WORLD AND THIS IS IT. A MONSTROSITY. YOU CAN'T LET ANYONE HAVE ANYTHING ELSE BECAUSE YOU ARE JUST A CHILD.'

'AND WHAT ARE YOU, A WEAK, PATHETIC, MUGGLE WITH NO IDEA OF THE POWER THAT I HAVE.'

'YEAH, JUST LIKE A LITTLE BOY WHO HAS FOUND HIS FATHER'S GUN. I'M PATHETIC? WHO'S THE ONE THREATENING CHILDREN TO GET HIS WAYS?'

'SILENCE!' and with a mad scream Voldemort levelled his wand at Vernon Dursley, 'YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY WORLD.'

'I know enough to be confident that it will fail,' with the wand steadily aimed at his chest Vernon ceased shouting but kept his eyes locked with the lunatic.

'AND WHAT IS THAT WHICH WILL FAIL ME?'

'Everything. Your pathetic friends who pick the neighbour hood bully. Your own power. But that isn't what will destroy you.'

'And what is that then?' Voldemort asked quietly, his eyes darkening.

'Hope. That is what has kept you dead for so long and that will kill you again,' but the speaker was not Vernon, instead the voice came from Neville who now stood among the crowd.

'HOPE!' Voldemort shouted shrilly, 'hope is the fantasy here you fools, what can hope do for you? Will it brandish a sword and fight me? NO! Hope is useless and it will never destroy me.'

'You're wrong,' Neville continued, his voice calm, 'hope is everywhere and in everyone, you can't fight it and it will fight you.'

'WHAT HOPE DO YOU HAVE THEN?' Voldemort screamed at Neville, spittle flying from his mouth in anger.

'Harry Potter,' Neville uttered the name, his voice still calm.

'NO, THE BOY IS DEAD!'

'Ha!' Vernon started again, 'if my nephew is dead then why are you so afraid.'

'THE BOY IS DEAD,' Voldemort shouted again, then he raised his wand, 'AND SO ARE YOU! AVADA KEDAVRA!' and in a flash of green that swept across the hall there was a shout of anger that cut through the room.

***

With a brilliant flash of green Harry's scar erupted in pain and a tortured yell escaped his mouth as he convulsed on the table where he lay. The Marauder's Map flew from his hands and was grabbed swiftly by Dudley as Sirius and Aunt Petunia crowded round Harry. 'Grab his arms!' she shouted as she tried to hold his head steady, with strong hands Sirius pulled down on Harry's right arm while Dudley and Ron clung onto his left.

'Look at me Harry,' his aunt whispered and with his teeth gritted Harry turned his sweating head towards her, 'I'm here, I'm right here and I'm not going to leave.' As he visibly calmed she turned to Dobby who had run in with a small column of house elves when Harry had yelled. 'Get me some ice cold water please,' Petunia said to Dobby and within seconds the house elves had passed a jug along the line.

'I need a towel,' and with a quick flick of her wand Hermione conjured a small cloth that floated into Petunia's hand. Dipping it in the water Harry's aunt carefully mopped at his brow as his body began to slowly cease convulsing, letting go of his arm Sirius reached for his godson's hand and gave it a squeeze as he steadily began to draw in deep breaths. 'It's over Harry,' his aunt's soothing voice cut through the barrier of pain that had been around him. Looking up with small eyes Harry croaked back a reply.

'No…it's just beginning.'

***

'NO!' with a cry Arthur Weasley rose and punched out the nearest Death Eater as the lifeless body fell trembling to the ground. Grabbing the fallen Dark Wizard's wand Molly cast a shield charm as two more Death Eaters began to aim at Arthur, but then they too were attacked by angry people. Throughout the hall chaos now reigned as the captured turned on the captors after the horrible death that had been unleashed.

Yelling loudly Vernon released a punch that threw a Death Eater back five feet as the wizard attempted to charge down the Weasleys. Running into the blue bubble that surrounded them he caught the end of the brief conversation between Ginny and her mother, '…under the main table.' Turning to face the large table he saw that a chair was leaning backwards and beneath it was a large gap, realising the significance he began to run as the spells released inside the castle intensified.

Across the hall Neville lay very still, his eyes focused on nothing, staring up into the endless sky that was portrayed on the ceiling. Beside him lay Justin who had rushed over as the spell had been released, aiming to knock him away, but this had not been the case. Breathing a deep breath Neville stirred and carefully lifted the boy in his arms, Justin had taken the full blast as he had tackled Neville. Tears sprung unbidden from Neville's face as he looked into the grey and sightless eyes of the Muggle wizard, 'maybe Eton would have been a better choice,' he whispered as he clutched the lifeless body.

***

Outside the castle Hagrid stirred in pain as his lungs objected to the force that had been applied, gingerly touching his chest he felt the ribs that had been snapped by Voldemort's attack. Inside the hall he heard the shouting and saw the different lights of spells being launched across the room. Groaning he carefully lifted himself up and with a shake of his head he began to move towards the trees that were dizzy in his vision. Shuffling with a limp he moved into the branches that brushed over his enormous shoulders, steadily moving he walked deeper and deeper into the forest until he had disappeared. A few minutes later a large howl came from the forest followed by the snapping of branches. 

Draco had once said there was all sorts of things in the forest, werewolves were among the nicest he had mentioned.

***

Deep underground Dumbledore awoke to find himself lying in the passage that was now lit with a blue glimmer of light. His foggy brain found focussing on his surroundings difficult but his ears soon heard the conversation around him:

WRECKING MY CASTLE

__

How many times must we say this, it's our castle.

****

We did help build it, even he helped out.

__

Now he real question is what do we do now?

LET'S GO AND START A FIGHT.

****

Stupid, nice but stupid.

__

You should know by now that the odds of us doing anything like that are immeasurable.

DOESN'T MEAN WE CAN'T TRY.

****

Yeah, I can just see you tackling someone and then flying through into the trophy room when you suddenly remember you're a ghost.

LOOK WHO'S TALKING.

__

Quiet both of you, now we can't do anything overly physical as you have both effectively argued. However in terms of a small effort do you have any ideas?

In the silence that followed Dumbledore slowly turned his head to face the voices and his eyes managed to focus on three blue shimmers. 'Who are you?' he croaked towards them.

AAAAAARRRRRGH!

__

Quiet Godric, that's enough to scare anyone to death – again.

HE SCARED ME.

****

Ahem, we have a different problem than worrying about dying again.

As his gaze slowly reverted to normal Albus saw the faces of the trio of ghosts that were beside him, thinking back to the carvings their names shot into his head; Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw. 'Am I dead?' he whispered to the nearest face that hovered in his vision.

__

No, but you have one massive bump on your head.

Nodding to himself Albus slipped into peaceful unconsciousness again as the trio of phantoms moved in.

AND HE'S MEANT TO SAVE THE SCHOOL, HE CAN'T EVEN STAY CONSCIOUS FOR FIVE MINUTES HOW IS THAT GOING TO HELP?

****

Godric, it's not as if you were king of staying awake during any situation.

__

Stop bickering with him Rowena, we have to do something, but what?


	9. Parts 25 - 27

****

Chapter 25: The Aftermath

In the Great Hall Neville still held the lifeless body in his arms while Voldemort's followers went about quelling the last areas of resistance, there weren't many left after the Dark Wizards had turned their wands onto the children nearby to them. Lowering the charm that she had conjured Molly looked around for Vernon who had taken off towards the main table at one point during the battle, there she saw his body slumped over the chair that had been revealing the escape of several people. Fearing the worst she began to move towards him when with a groan he lifted himself off the chair, and shaking his head he stumbled back to the Weasleys with the rest of the wizards that the Death Eaters were herding back into the centre of the hall.

'Are you okay?' she asked as he slumped down heavily beside them.

'I dove on the chair before they noticed,' he replied rubbing his ribs where the chair had been pushing into him, 'I couldn't get anyone else out though.' Looking across the hall he saw Neville cradling Justin lifeless body, 'but I'll never be okay again,' he whispered silently.

'I don't think we're going to get out at all,' Ginny muttered looking pale and not tearing her stare away from Neville who was still cradling Justin's body despite several people having attempted to separate the two. She then turned away into a deep hug from her mother who was trying not to admit the same thing.

***

Wiping a grimy sleeve over his forehead Draco moved slowly through the underground passages where he had been stuck ever since the Death Eaters had invaded the Great Hall, arriving at the meeting of all the hall passages he had found only signs of a located magical discharge around a symbol on the floor. It meant his allies had been captured or had somehow escaped, he would have put equal money on both of them having occurred, but somehow he knew that Harry was still out there. Behind him were a few families who he'd managed to smuggle out before the onrushing Death Eater forces had caused him to shut the passage behind the shield.

'Do you know where we are?' asked Percy Bole over his shoulder, behind him were his younger brother and parents.

'Yeah, I know where we are, I just don't know where the others are.'

'And where are we then?'

'Below the Great Hall, I saw it on Harry's map once, the big one Dumbledore had on his wall is exactly the same, but it's like they've shifted.'

'So you don't know where we are?'

'I do know where we are, I just don't know where the right tunnel is – better or worse?' silence greeted Draco's snapped reply. 'All I know for now is that we don't want to end up back in Death Eater hands, and I don't fancy meeting any of our old housemates either.'

'You're right, I suppose it could be worse.'

'How could it be worse?'

'I don't know, the floor could collapse–' and then with a great moan of earth the passage they were in disintegrated underneath them. Coughing and spluttering Percy spat a clump out of his earth and turned to face Draco's wry face. 'Next time tell me to keep my big mouth shut.'

'Oh I don't know,' came a new voice out of the dark, 'I think you've turned up just in time, _Lumos!_' and there among a pile of newly fallen earth and rocks, bathed in a pale light, stood Albus Dumbledore.

***

In the kitchen Aunt Petunia remained with Harry while the others descended on another table in the large room, Sirius looked around at the group; Hermione, Ron and Dudley sat together on one end, beside them sat Fred and George with Viktor at their side. Surrounding him was Lupin, Snape and a dazed-looking Percy, 'Are you sure you're alright for this?' he whispered to him and got a nod in return. Shrugging his shoulders Sirius looked around the rest, vague faces he remembered seeing on the train, the house elves from the kitchen including Dobby, most looked around as if lost, they wouldn't fight, well he had to make them. Him. _The Prisoner of Azkaban_ he thought wryly allowing a small smile to creep onto his face.

'Well?' Snape asked him questioningly, his dark eyes focusing on Sirius who just stared back, 'Black! What now?'

'Now we have two options, we fight for what's ours…or we give it all away.'

'Wait,' interjected one of the parents, 'you want us to go up against You Know Who with just a bunch of kids and teachers?'

'No,' Sirius replied, 'I want you to go up against _Voldemort_ and your fear with just a bunch of kids and teachers, whom happen to include Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore.' His cool gaze held that of the parent until they looked away.

'But where is Dumbledore?', the question came from Hermione, 'and we can't send Harry to fight in his state, he's half dead Sirius. I don't want to destroy what hope you have, but at the minute we can fight, and we can die.'

'True words Ms. Granger,' Snape agreed, turning to face Sirius, 'we can fight and die, and if we don't die, then we can at least expect to watch those we hold dear to us die…and I don't want that to happen.'

'So what then?' Sirius snapped, 'you want us to stay here, sat on our arses until they find us?'

'If necessary – yes.' Snape replied evenly, 'you may have lived more than one lifetime already Padfoot,' he continued, looking deep into Sirius's eyes, 'don't make others do the same.'

***

'Would you consider coming out of the ceiling anytime soon?' Dumbledore asked, looking up to where most of the parents and children who had followed Draco were hiding. 'Look, Draco and Percy came down and they're alright…'

'We only came down because we fell down,' Percy muttered to Draco where they both stood leaning against the wall, slightly wary of Dumbledore's companions.

I'M NOT REALLY THAT SCARY AM I? Godric asked the two who just shrugged their shoulders, their experience of ghosts extended to the Bloody Baron and ended there, and he had never really spoken to them…just glared.

****

Really, you'd think they would pay the founders of the school a bit more respect Rowena commented, her silvery form levitating in tandom with Helga.

__

Well, we are dead she argued back, _They have a right to be a bit…worried_

'I think you mean scared,' a disembodied voice shouted from the stretch of the tunnel that hadn't collapsed.

'Look, will you lot just come down?' Draco shouted up, 'It's not as if they're hurting _us_ is it?' he said, in reference not only to Percy and himself, but the few others who had fallen on top of them.

'Well spoken Mr. Malfoy,' Dumbledore said with a sparkle in his eye, 'now if you would all please come down, we could get out of here and find the others.'

'Others?' Draco asked.

'Surely you don't think only you got out?' the old wizard asked, but it was done so that Draco didn't know whether or not he was serious. 'What we need to do is get to the kitchens, if anyone got out, they'll be there – or I won't be getting any socks for Christmas.'

***

'I am losing my patience with you,' Voldemort whispered over the silent hall, 'now…separate the Muggles…all of them,' the silent command was issued to the Death Eaters that had once again surrounded everybody inside the hall. Holding their wands out the Dark Wizards walked among the families, easily picking out the Muggles by their clothing, 'and the Mudbloods,' Voldemort hissed when he saw a few families had been left aside.

The hall was quickly divided, leaving only a few families near to Voldemort, while those Muggle or Muggle-descended were driven to the outside, still nursing his ribs Vernon looked to where the Weasleys sat in the centre, he wasn't sure who was in more trouble, them or him. The cold light in Voldemort's eyes suggested that anyone could be a target for his wrath, and so far this was true. In his chest Vernon felt a deep chill when the Dark Wizard rose and began to walk among the 'pure' families, stopping beside the Weasleys.

'Arthur Weasley,' he whispered as he stood over them, 'I have heard lots about you from Lucius, been busy at the Ministry have you? Looking after the Muggles and warning everyone else about me…and look where you are now. Only your wife and darling daughter left –'

He was cut off when Arthur rose in anger as Voldemort stepped towards Ginny, his fear had been overridden by a need to protect his family, but without a wand he never even threw a punch. Voldemort shot an electric blue field from his wand that sent Arthur flying into the crowd on the outside. 'Join your precious Muggles fool,' he spat, 'you would be of more use to them then to any purpose in our world.' A jerk of his head sent two Death Eaters forwards, and they dragged Molly and Ginny to the other circle as well, further reducing the number in the middle. 'Well, I think that's all the worthless Muggles accounted for…and now for those of pureblood who dared to oppose me.'

***

Aunt Petunia had joined the impromptu council of war leaving Harry to lie on the table, his head still burning but the dull throb having left, instead there was a feeling of unease…he could almost sense what Voldemort was doing without being in the hall. Lying there, he could not hear the scraping of the wall behind him over the sound of Sirius and Snape 'debating', he was sure if Remus didn't intervene soon Voldemort wouldn't have to worry about dealing with them.

'INVADERS!' a shrill voice shouted, cutting through the air, his head jerking up Harry saw Dobby and most of the other house elves running towards him with sparks of energy already crackling around their fingers. Turning round Harry's jaw dropped as the invading figures stepped from the darkness, behind him he heard the sudden and total silence that had spread throughout the kitchen, walking towards them with a reassuring smile and sparkling eyes was Albus Dumbledore.

'Excellent work Dobby,' he said, cutting into the silence with warmth, 'I see you managed to handle your new duties very effectively…are you okay?' he added the last part when Dobby grabbed a handy pan and whacked his head with it.

'We is thinking you are dead Professor Albus Dumbledore sir,' Dobby replied, still bouncing the pan off of his head, 'we is sorry for this.'

'Not at all,' the elderly wizard replied, using his wand to flick the pan away to a sink, 'on the contrary, I found being 'dead' quite helpful for a little while. News later,' he continued, his voice now serious but still with a reassuring tone, 'I have more people who need to be looked after…and also some new…acquaintances…to introduce.' As he spoke this Godric, Helga and Rowena sailed through the wall behind him while Draco, Percy and the other families edged in through the secret door Dumbledore had opened.

I NEVER KNEW ABOUT THAT ONE Godric remarked, waving back to the hinged wall.

__

That was one of mine, kept it a secret for getting food Helga replied.

****

Yes, perhaps we should stop this discussion now Rowena interjected as all the house elves fainted away en masse.

WE'RE HAVING THAT EFFECT ON PEOPLE TODAY Godric remarked, staring curiously at Dobby who was lying down with a fresh cooking pan covering his head.

'Are they…?' the timid question came from Hermione, who was the only person other than Dumbledore who appeared capable of speech, in reply the elderly wizard only nodded. 'I thought they were…'

__

Oh we are dear, Helga answered, _doesn't mean we don't get out though_

'Oh. That's nice.'

****

Some of us more than others Rowena continued until Dumbledore cut in:

'And that is what some of us have to discuss later…but for now, can someone help me wake up the elves?'

***

Deep in the forest Hagrid stirred when he felt a soft hand wipe across his brow, opening his eyes, he drew in a deep breath and felt a dull pain stir in his ribs.

'Rest easy Hagrid,' a soft voice whispered, and he turned to focus on Tenna, 'Ronan found you at the edge of the forest, he and Bane brought you here. You were badly hurt, but our healers have done their work, your body is renewing itself as we speak.'

'What's going on?' he asked, feeling the pain subside to a throb, looking around at the activity of the centaurs all around him.

'We are preparing,' another voice replied as Tenna's husband stepped forward, 'for what may be the end, alas not even we can know the outcome to this struggle.'

'But yeh can't,' Hagrid said, 'yeh don't know anythin' that's been happening, or even what's happened.'

'However I do know,' Firenze said, trotting up to Hagrid's side as the man rose, 'remember I conferred with Albus Dumbledore after meeting you and Harry Potter.' His sapphire eyes were alight as he spoke to Hagrid, 'he himself told me this might happen, and to lead the forest against the castle when it did…he would take care of the rest.'

'How?' Hagrid asked, 'I haven't seen Professor Dumbledore since the explosion, he could even be dead…'

'Yet the Potter boy is not,' Tenna replied, 'I may no longer see, but even I would sense his death in our world. If Albus Dumbledore is truly dead then our hope is diminished…but with Harry Potter alive it cannot fail.'

****

Chapter 26: The Resurrection of Hope

Deep beneath the school Albus had summoned together the few teachers and older students who had escaped, with Harry still suffering from the effects of his scar they were gathered around his table while he sat propped up between Ron and Hermione, still wrapped in a Hogwarts blanket, with Dudley on the end of their bench. Around Dumbledore sat the spirits of the three founders while at the sides of the table were Sirius, Remus, Severus, Viktor, a dazed Percy Weasley, the twins, Draco, Percy Bole and Dobby.

'We must accept that the castle has fallen,' Dumbledore began, glancing in particular at Sirius, 'and there is precious little we can do to change this situation at the present time, even with the aid of our three new friends.' At this point he gestured to the ghosts, but then Harry saw a familiar sparkle enter his eye, 'However, with their help I have been given the information we need to gain the advantage, I'll let them continue.'

****

Thank you Albus, Rowena said, shifting her spectral glasses over her nose, **this really needs to be told as a story, which I believe is your forte Helga**

__

It is indeed Rowena, and so I will teach you all something that history has forgotten rising up, the ghost missed a smirk between Hermione and Viktor. _The first thing to say is that you have undoubtedly missed the delightful presence of Salazar from our company. When we founded the school many years ago, it was he who started the discord that led to separate houses being formed, and yet when we all died his spirit remained as did our own…_

For hundreds of years we watched the school grow, under headteachers long forgotten to you all, up until Dippet and Dumbledore, but during their years as headmasters a change occurred. It came in the form of Tom Marvolo Riddle, whom a few of you will know is in fact the wizard you call Lord Voldemort. Now he researched heavily into the Dark Arts, more so than any student had before…and so he attracted Salazar's attention…

Professor Dumbledore will remember that Riddle never really showed any strong powers until his sixth year, and it was at that point the change occurred. It was all Salazar, he left the deep passages where we had lived by day and met the Riddle boy, began to teach him, eventually revealing that he was his heir. At the end of the sixth year, Salazar and the boy merged without our knowing, his soul and that of Riddle became intertwined, and so Lord Voldemort was born.

That is his secret, that is what preserved him after the curse meant for Harry killed him, it destroyed his body for certain, but the dark strength of both souls within him…that was a force that could not be dispelled by mere magic. And so he remained, an evil entity that still had enough power to corrupt and to return, and return he has, this time with a stronger body and still with a soul to powerful to be destroyed…

'Or at least that's what I thought at first,' Dumbledore commented, causing most people to jump sharply as his voice cut through the silence that had descended, 'and so it seemed all my hopes had gone…and then Godric had an idea.'

****

For once

EVER THE LADY ROWENA, Godric said with a smile, AND YES, WHILE MY IDEAS ARE RARE I SEEM TO REMEMBER THEY'RE ALWAYS GOOD…THE SORTING HAT FOR INSTANCE…

****

Has your ego finished yet or would you like to retake the castle by yourself?

YES, ANYWAY…VOLDEMORT CANNOT BE DESTROYED BY ANY SOLE MAGICAL OR MORTAL MEANS, INDEED IT WAS A POWERFUL OLD MAGIC THAT DESTROYED HIS BODY THE FIRST TIME, NOT JUST A CONJURING TRICK. AND SO I WONDERED…WHAT IF THIS POWER COULD BE GIVEN TO ANOTHER…

****

Which is where I come in being the chief researcher among us

__

You could just say the smartest, we both know it Helga said with a glance at Rowena.

****

Well if you insist, but moving on, we now know that we too can transfer our souls in a similar way, giving our powers to those who could destroy Voldemort, destroying both Salazar and Riddle in the process

AND SO WE _ALL_ RESEARCHED, Godric continued, TRACING OUR BLOODLINES UNTIL WE FOUND THREE SUITABLE SOLUTIONS he finished this part with a smile that was both grim and happy in the knowledge it passed.

'Which brings us to now, when I met the founders and they passed on the knowledge to me,' Dumbledore continued the commentary easily, 'and now I know with this knowledge that we have a chance of defeating Voldemort – forever.'

***

In the Great Hall the Death Eaters were watching the Dark Lord take his time to strike the fear and terror from years earlier back into the hearts of the captives there. Slipping between families he delivered threats to the natural wizards and witches who had refused to join him while mocking the mixed blood descendants with cruel words. It was only when he had circled the entire hall that he returned to his seat and an oppressive silence settled upon the hall, red eyes flashing Voldemort regarded the people before him, an ugly look had settled on his face.

'I remember the fear of the old days,' he said suddenly causing several people to twitch as his gaze passed over them, 'the fact when my name shook many of you, when my mere appearance could frighten the life out of some wizards and witches, and countless Muggles.'

'That fear is not here, and that disappoints me, before I can rule again this has to be changed and I can see only one way…it is time for a demonstration of my power. Not anything as simple as taking this castle or ridding the hall of giants…no…a full demonstration of my power.' Rising suddenly he reached out with a clawed hand at Fudge who was lifted in an invisible grasp and thrown against the south wall, a sweep of his other arm sent the people crowded there away to the sides.

Continuing this he sent the captured Hogwarts staff there, and to the horror of the remaining families he snatched Arthur, Vernon, Neville and the remaining Prefects out from the crowds surrounding them protectively. With a cry of desperation Molly started forwards only to be restrained by two Death Eaters nearby as Voldemort lined up his chosen victims along the wall. Without any ceremony he walked forwards and raised his wand, the point aimed squarely between Fudge's eyes.

'NO!' the cry tore itself from Fudge's throat and rang out over Voldemort's incantation, a green light flashed throughout the hall in time with a resounding crack, and in the seconds afterwards when the glare left his eyes, Vernon Dursley saw the pale skinned and grey-eyed Minister fall to the ground.

***

'Harry!' Dumbledore shouted as he convulsed once then smashed forwards onto the table, he scar burning brightly on his forehead. Hearing his cry Aunt Petunia ran over from where she had been attending to a cut on Albert Bole's face, once more a sopping wet rag in her grasp, arriving at the same time Ron and Hermione lifted their friend up to see him shaking and red once more. 'Tell them now,' Dumbledore whispered as Harry was laid down and his forehead bathed again, turning back to the ghosts Dumbledore repeated his request, 'tell them all now.'

****

If you think it best then we will do so

'Now is the time, or things will go beyond our control.'

****

Very well, as Godric said we traced our bloodlines and found three whom we could bind our own souls to, three who are with us right now

__

You can probably guess of whom we speak, Helga continued, in particular gazing at Sirius, whose eyes hadn't left Harry since the boy had collapsed.

'Harry…Hermione…Ron,' he whispered, watching the three of them, the two supporting Harry as his aunt held the compress against his head. 'You want to send them up against Voldemort?'

NOT JUST THEM, WE WILL BE THERE TO HELP

'No,' Sirius said, his eyes now filled with worry, 'they've only just begun their real lives, you can't expect them to do this…surely there is another way?'

****

And yet an hour ago you were willing to sacrifice everyone here, Rowena said, her sharp remark catching Sirius's attention, **including Harry and his friends…surely you see this is a better way?**

'Of course I see it's better,' Sirius snapped, surprising everyone with his equally sharp tone, 'but it's just…'

__

Unfair…as our most of life's ways, you have suffered much Sirius, we all know this…but how many more would suffer again – do you want more children to grow up as Harry did? Never knowing their parents? Never having a real family until their precious childhood was gone?

Helga's argument settled a silence over the room as the people present split their attention between the three children and Sirius, a silence that was broken by Severus of all people. 'I think I can say we again face two decisions…sit and do nothing…or fight with what we have,' his face travelled over everyone in the room, including Dumbledore. Looking into his eyes he saw that Snape also felt the same as Sirius, that they could not ask this of three children, but as he said, their choice was split two ways.

'We fight.' The statement came from Harry who had once again struggled through a haze of pain to speak.

'Very well,' Dumbledore said, gesturing that everyone should step away, leaving the ghosts and the children, 'the time has come for past and present to join forces.'

****

Hermione, take my hand child, Rowena stepped forwards first, her voice calm and serene as Hermione rose from the bench and took a trembling step towards her. As her hand passed through Rowena's she felt a chill, that did not pass but instead remained as their hands merged together, leaving a silver outline around Hermione's palm. **My blood runs through your veins Hermione Granger,** Rowena spoke, but only Hermione heard her voice inside her head, **in you is the wisdom of all Ravenclaws, past and present, as well as the courage of one who is true in heart**

Slowly the two began to merge together, everyone held their breath and jumped when Helga's voice drifted through the air, _Ron, take my hand as Hermione took Rowena's_ she said, gliding to his side as he left Harry alone on the bench, again as she spoke only he heard after their hands merged together. _My spirit is one with yours Ron, you have the loyalty of a true friend that has born Harry and Hermione through trouble and will do so forever, as the loyalty of a Hufflepuff will last forever_

Sitting alone, Harry saw Godric walk forward silently, looking into his face he saw that the man had a grace about him, despite his often ungainly phrasing and actions, he had been a man of great power in his time. Extending his hand, Harry met Godric's and felt the same lasting chill as Hermione and Ron had done, once again Godric's voice spoke within his mind only.

YOU ARE A TRUE GRYFFINDOR HARRY, IN BLOOD AND IN YOUR HEART, YOU HAVE THE COURAGE OF A LION MATCHED BY THE STRENGTH IN YOUR WILL TO FIGHT FOR WHAT IS RIGHT, AND THE DRIVE TO PRESERVE FRIENDSHIP AND LIFE. I BIND MYSELF TO YOU, FOR YOU ARE A PROTECTOR AS I ONCE WAS, I WILL BE HERE WITH YOU FOREVER. THOUGH YOU MAY NOT SEE OR HEAR ME, KNOW I WILL BE THERE TO SUPPORT YOU…KNOW IT HARRY, AND EMBRACE MY SOUL.

Simultaneously all of the ghosts joined with their descendants as the magic that bound their six souls together, a white light shone from the skin of the three children as the ghosts disappeared within them, each felt a burst of warmth flood their bodies where the chill had been. A calm silence had spread throughout the entire kitchen, everyone had turned to watch the event after listening to Sirius's outburst, the people and elves were all staring at the three, not with wide eyes of fear, but with the curiosity that surrounds a miracle.

A few seconds later the light faded from the room to leave Hermione, Ron and Harry standing alone, there was no sign of the ghosts at all. For a few seconds nothing happened as everyone just stood watching and waiting, finally Ron spoke, his voice sounding unnaturally loud in the silence. 'That…was…'

'Yeah,' Harry agreed, blinking his eyes a few times, 'I feel…refreshed…'

'You look refreshed,' Hermione commented, and she was right. Harry's scar still shone a vivid green but he was no longer sweating or as red as he had been, his body no longer trembled with the effort of just standing.

'Harry?' the question came from Sirius, 'is that still…you?'

'Yeah, at least it feels like me…but there's something else…' he replied, 'like there's someone else in here with me,' he added, tapping he side of his head. Walking up to his godfather Harry gave a reassuring smile, then found himself crowded by Dudley and Aunt Petunia as well. Similarly, Hermione found Viktor walking up to her and embracing her warmly while Ron's brothers came over to examine him, Fred and George settled for poking him quickly in the belly.

'Well,' Dumbledore said as the groups settled, 'now we have our founders back, who's ready to get back their castle?' Unanimously, all the hands and acceptable substitutes flew upwards in support.

***

'There's someone you should meet Hagrid,' Firenze said after a while, satisfied the other centaurs were doing their tasks correctly, 'they arrived not long after the school fell…two of them seem especially interested in seeing you.' Trotting off quietly he lead Hagrid deeper into the forest, deeper than the groundskeeper had ever been by himself until reaching a clearing, 'wait here, I will summon them.'

Walking over to a hollow tree Firenze lashed a hoof against a beam creating a resounding note that hung over the trees nearby, in answer two female centaurs, whom Hagrid recognised as Cascade and Sienna, walked silently out of the tree branches…behind them giant shadows merged with the trees until…

''Agrid!' the French accent was unmistakable, and from the fronds emerged Madame Olympe Maxime, 'I thought we would not see each uzzer again!' striding forwards he met and embraced her, wincing slightly as she clutched him back around the ribs.

'It were a close thing Olympe,' Hagrid said, his cheeks starting to turn red, pulling back he held her hand before turning back to Firenze, 'I though yeh said there was two people wantin' to see me?'

'There are…' a deep voice replied, and stepping forth from the trees came a woman taller and wider than Olympe, her beetle black eyes shone as she beheld Hagrid, '…hello my boy.'

'Mother…' Hagrid replied, trying not to choke his words, 'you don't look any different from how dad described yeh.'

'Indeed,' Fridwulfa replied, a twinkle in her eyes as she remembered Hagrid's father, 'Olympe tracked me down after you raised the rest of the enclave,' with a giant palm she gestured to the other giants emerging. 'I have heard much about this Dumbledore fellow, and I already know of Voldemort, but it was you that really brought me back.' One arm reached down and embraced her son, 'And if you say this Dumbledore is trustworthy than you have me in your fight, and if he will give us rights, you have us all.'

'He will ma, he's taken good care of yeh boy and he'll take care of all of yeh.' Hagrid turned now to all the giants, 'We're in need of yeh help now, Voldemort's taken the castle, we're goin' to attack but alone we won't make it…'

'Together we will,' replied a strong voice, and from the edge of the opposite side of the forest the centaurs emerged, with other creatures among them, silver unicorns stamped and snorted, in the trees Hagrid could make out the spiders of Aragog's tribe.

'All of us,' hissed the voice of Aragog himself, 'stand together as one.'

'THEN LET'S GO!!!!!' Hagrid roared, and with a mighty the creatures and people of the woods charged after him, rousing the forest with their cheers. Leading the charge Hagrid turned to find Olympe by his side, with Ronan, Bane and Firenze galloping around him, looking back he saw swiftly striding giants following his mother and galloping unicorns dancing amidst the centaurs while owls flew swiftly through the trees the spiders swung from.

And there at the back, with a spider trailing on the roof and its lights flashing madly, came Mr. Weasley's car.

***

Inside the Great Hall screaming had erupted seconds after Fudge had collapsed to the ground, 'That's more like it!' Voldemort shouted shrilly, amidst the laughs of the Death Eaters as he moved onto the next helpless victim. Vernon stared down the wandtip into Voldemort's red eyes, 'Where's your boy now Muggle?' he sneered, drawing back his lips to release the curse that would send Vernon to the floor with Fudge.

Preparing to deliver a final response Vernon was cut off when the doors to the Great Hall were blown off once more. 'VOLDEMORT! YOUR TIME ON THIS EARTH HAS COME TO AN END!' standing there with his scar glowing brightly stood Harry, wand in one hand, his Firebolt grasped in the same hand while his other hand held the sword of Godric Gryffindor. As he spoke, a green lightning bolt mark rose above him, expanded until it filled the doorway.

Voldemort wasted no time on pleasantries, turning around swiftly he released the curse meant for Vernon at Harry, its green beam sweeping over two Death Eater sentries who fell wordlessly, with vicious force it exploded into the doorway as Harry shot out backwards on his broom. Cursing Voldemort sent a Firespin Spell directly into the Entrance Hall, and with an explosion that threw the doors off their hinges, Harry shot out into the sky above the grounds, fire trailing behind him. Looking below he saw Voldemort and a group of Death Eaters charge out the front, with a grim smile he landed and turned to face them.

The final battle for Hogwarts had begun.

****

Chapter 27: The Final Battle

Placing the Firebolt on the ground, Harry straightened up to face Voldemort and the Death Eaters who had run out after him, so far things were going to plan, grasping his wand firmly Harry drew Godric's sword with his other hand. 'GET THE BOY!' Voldemort screeched, his chilling voice still cutting through the air as the Dark Wizards charged forwards with wands held high, as they charged Harry also saw some draw knives – maybe there were some aspects of the Muggle world they embraced.

Taking a step backwards Harry felt more scared at that point than any previously in his life, until a warmth flooded through his body and a warm presence moved into his mind. Raising his wand calmly he released a golden beam the exploded in front of the first Death Eaters to charge, with a mingle of cries they were set flying as jets of brilliant light shout out of the explosion and punched them away forcefully. Now holding the sword in a firm grasp Harry prepared to meet the first Death Eater as the man charged, his knife stabbing into the air as he ran, breathing in Harry planted his feet as the man closed.

With a giant crash the entire grounds shook, throwing everyone to the floor except for Harry who had planted his feet firmly, and Voldemort who stood in a fury. Beneath their feet they could feel a repetitive thumping that seemed to be growing stronger and stronger as time progressed, until it was all around them. Seeing Voldemort's face, Harry risked a brief glance behind him and found his jaw dropping at the sight, 'What the hell?'

***

Inside the Great Hall the shaking had only sent dust falling from the top of the sturdy structure, but when the thumping began, all hell promptly broke loose when a hundred house elves suddenly exploded into the room in a myriad of bangs and explosions. Reacting quickly, the Death Eaters began to shoot off spells randomly into the clusters of elves, but the shield charms they were performing and expanding absorbed the energy, stopping lethal bursts striking the chanting elves and nearby families. The first Death Eater was about to charge a group and break apart the chanters when the second attack came from within, and the survivors from the kitchen exploded into the Great Hall from the secret passageways, with Dumbledore at their head.

Stunning Jinxes flew thick and fast within the first minute sending wizards, witches and Muggles flying everywhere as the captives rose to fight with Dumbledore's force, explosions blew pieces of the venerated hall apart as spells were directed by the Death Eaters at the easy targets. Throwing himself to the floor, Vernon felt parts of the wall fall on top of him as a spell ripped into where his head had been minutes earlier, rising, he was just in time to flip a charging Death Eater over his back as vicious fighting broke out all over the hall.

Spells became practically void as a weapon in the closeness of the battle and the people within began to go at it hand and foot, tooth and in some cases claw. Not everyone was without magic though, and the older students had soon reformed together as a fusillade against Death Eater clusters, all the Prefects with Viktor, Ron and Hermione at their head led small charges into the Dark Wizards. Firing off more charms and jinxes than she remembered she knew, Hermione was a danger to anyone wearing a skull mask, while Ron and Viktor covered her and the other Prefects against retaliation.

Ducking an explosion, Lucius Malfoy realised there was no way to fight back in the close quarters of the hall, and so with Death Eaters grouping around him they began a fighting retreat to where Voldemort waited outside. 'Fall back!' he shouted to those nearby not realising that on the other side of the hall Dumbledore was giving the opposite order, and the Hogwarts' contingent began pressing forwards, using the broken remains of the hall's tables and benches to snipe at the cluster of Death Eaters leaving the hall.

A cheer arose when Dobby and a few other elves used their magic to summon and reattach the doors to the entrance, and with a resounding oaken boom the closed, shutting out the Death Eaters. 'Families stay behind!' Dumbledore shouted over the cheering, 'Everyone else – follow me!' and with the elderly wizard at their head, the doors were flung open once more and the defenders poured into the empty Entrance Hall, before charging out the main gates…and into a warzone.

***

When Harry had turned he had seen Hagrid leading the charge out of the forest, had seen the centaurs and unicorns galloping at his side with owls flying high and spiders scuttling forwards from the trees, while above the trees a group of grim-faced giants began to march towards Hogwarts. Turning back to Voldemort Harry expected to see doubt in the Dark Wizard's face, but instead a sneer rested on his features, and his red eyes flashed in Harry's direction as he threw back his head, releasing a screeching cry that echoed around the castle.

As Harry watched, shadows began to detach themselves from the rest of the forest that was near the castle, prowling wolves suddenly became clear as they stepped out, snarling and howling, Harry felt his stomach turn cold as Dementors swept out of the woods, their hooded bodies gliding over the ground, and flying through the air came all manner of hawks and crows, cawing evilly while amidst them floated human figures with faces paler than Voldemort, the vampires had also arrived.

'PROTECT THE CASTLE!' roared a huge voice and both Harry and Voldemort turned to see that far from faltering at the horde of dark beasts that had emerged, Hagrid and the rest of his small army were charging directly at them. Turning back to the Dark Wizard, Harry felt the urge to flash a small grin as he lifted the sword once more, held it ready to do combat as the Death Eaters picked themselves off the floor.

His grin swiftly faded though when the rest of the Death Eaters poured out of the main gates behind Voldemort and joined him, but he didn't look to pleased about it either Harry noted, a few seconds later the answer arrived. With a roar of the school's name Dumbledore led the charge out of the castle, Stunning Jinxes firing off wildly into the newly assembled Death Eaters and taking down a few of them before the rest split apart, firing back.

All around the school, the battle had been joined.

***

Leading the charge, Hagrid's first intention had been to bear down on Voldemort and his small force of Death Eaters when he had seen the werewolves first emerging from the forest's edges, followed by the other dark creatures, now he ran, yelling at the top of his voice towards the nearest, still aware of the others surrounding him. With a mighty backhand Hagrid bowled into a pack of wolves, sending the first flying with a whimper into a tree, the second to go tried to leap at his back but a whirling elbow knocked the beast senseless.

Kicking and punching Hagrid sent the rest flying around him until he tripped over the root of a tree and fell allowing the last wolf to leap, snarling with teeth flashing at him. A mighty palm swept the beast into the upper reaches of a tree as a giant leant down and lifted Hagrid, before he could thank him the giant took one step into the middle of a group of vampires, scattering the creatures. Turning back to the fight Hagrid saw a unicorn charge forwards and it's sharp horn slice through a Dementor, banishing the cursed creature into nothingness.

Seeing Ronan, Bane and Firenze fighting as a group Hagrid went to join them and punched a fist that sent s diving vampire back into the sky unconscious as he arrived. He was greeted with a grin of thanks from Firenze while the other two stayed sombre, despite kicking and punching at the wolves that surrounded them. With Hagrid's help, they soon fought off the wolves and began to charge towards the next group of attackers when the front row of trees literally splintered apart as several large shadows leapt out from within.

With the giants surrounded by small creatures, both friend and foe they could not get to the trolls and ogres that had slowly lumbered after the rest of the dark creatures, until they arrived in time for a perfect ambush.

***

As the ground exploded in dust and haze Neville found himself running alongside Viktor, Draco and Percy Bole as they charged towards the nearest enemies, not even thinking about the spells that scorched the earth near to them as they ran. Closing down a small group the quartet released stunners that threw two Dark Wizards to the ground, their nerves overloaded by the spells, with a meaningless yell they charged into the them and began using spells and punches to fight against the enemies.

It was only when they became surrounded the Neville realised their folly as light glinted off of the knife one Death Eater held in his hand, looking round he saw the others had done the same thing, their cold eyes glittering behind masks. There was a pause as if everyone realised at the same time what would happen, a pause that was rudely interrupted by an explosion which lifted everyone high into the air as the house elves poured energy into the cluster.

Using their own versions of the summoning charm, they pulled the four boys out of the air and left the Death Eaters to plummet back down again, putting the boys back down on the ground, the house elves vanished with small explosions to appear on the other side of the battle, once more using their magic to throw Dark Wizards away from the defenders of the castle. Looking a bit nonplussed Draco surveyed the pile of groaning Death Eaters that had risen on the ground where they fell, raising his wand he stunned the rest and then turned with a shrug to Neville and the rest. His eyes suddenly widened as they looked past Neville's shoulder and his mouth opened to yell, but the second explosion to hit them in two minutes drowned out the warning.

This time the blast had not come from the house elves.

***

The Weasleys formed an orange blur on the battlefield where they had all reunited as a family and began fighting as one, with Percy, Arthur and Molly using more powerful spells to clear a path, the twins, Ginny and Ron stunned anything that came too close for comfort, slowly but surely they were fighting their way towards Harry who stood embroiled among Death Eaters and the staff. On the opposite side of the field to them, Hermione had been stranded with the other Prefects but her new found knowledge was aiding them no end, with one spell she levitated a pack of werewolves into the air, throwing them into the lake.

The staff of Hogwarts had managed to charge straight through the main force of Death Eaters, stopping only when they reached Harry's side in time to turn and face the second charge of Dark Wizards, all the time Voldemort stood alone at the entrance, glaring impassively into the fray. Working as a unit, Sirius, Remus and Severus were a blur of spells and punches as they sent Death Eaters flying all around them. Off to Harry's left he could see Professor Flitwick conjuring a giant Shield Charm that allowed Professors Sprout, Sinistra and McGonagall to fire curses, hexes and jinxes out at the swarming Dark Wizards.

Alone in the centre Harry was a whirl as a new found energy filled his body, Godric's sword flashed silver as it turned aside knife blades and wands while Harry's own sent out stunners that pushed back the crowd of masked wizards. spinning the blade above his head, Harry parried Avery's slice at his head, then released a golden beam straight into the man's chest, lifting him high and throwing him back against the wall of the castle to slump into unconsciousness.

All the time the battle raged…and all the time Voldemort simply watched.

***

Above the grounds the skies were ablaze with furious fights of talon and beak as the owls, hawks and even a few vampires fought their own battle, spinning as they flew, the Hogwarts owls swooped in and out of the larger birds grasps, pecking at their wings as they shot past. But not all of them made it safely, sharp talons ripped and tore into skin as they winged through small gaps, sharp nails grappled birds out of the sky in the hands of a vampire.

Flying down from high, Errol recognised the hawk who had torn his wing earlier and issued as screeching challenge as he shot down, which amidst the noise, the hawk, who was busy scratching and tearing at a tawny school owl, did not hear until Errol bowled into him bloodily with a crack of a wing. Both of them slowly falling to the earth, Errol let only one thought circle his mind:

__

Take that you shifty bugger…

Looking upward Errol was in time to see Fawkes burst into the sky from the school his flame covered form scything into one of the vampires and sending them down in flames while the phoenix cut a brilliant path through the sky.

***

'ENOUGH!' Voldemort shouted suddenly, and raising his arms lifted them high, sending everyone in the path between him and Harry flying into the air, Death Eaters, wizards, witches and Muggles, he made no exception. 'This is our fight Harry Potter,' he snarled, drawing his wand and stalking forwards, ignoring the ongoing fights around him as he marched onto the boy who stood there, breathing heavily with wand and sword in hand.

As Voldemort neared Harry, he saw Ron and Hermione fighting their way towards him amidst the crowds of battling figures, raising his wand, Harry let the sword lower as Voldemort quickened his advance with a sneer. 'You forget Godric,' he shouted, charging forwards his cloak billowed as he reached beneath it with his left hand, 'Salazar had a weapon to fight with as well,' and completing this he withdrew a sword that scythed towards Harry's head.

Noting the sword was almost a match to Godric's own, Harry parried more swiftly then he or Voldemort imagine possible, throwing back the snake-handled blade with a clash of sparks that burned their faces. With a cry of rage Voldemort swept his wand low and lifted the blade to crush it down on Harry's head again, in combination the attack worked well as his spell tripped the boy backwards, with a mad smile of victory Voldemort chopped the sword down on Harry's unprotected head.

'Forgetting someone Voldemort?' a voice asked in the chaos as a thick silver beam twisted around his hand and lifted the Dark Wizard into the air, throwing him back feet from cleaving Harry's head in half. Standing amongst the smoke of the battlefield, Albus Dumbledore stood calmly controlling the thread that wrapped around the Dark Wizard's wrist.

'The old Muggle lover himself!' Voldemort spat, 'I never forgot you Dumbledore, in fact I have a gift for you from Salazar himself,' reaching again into his cape he pulled an elegant silver knife and sent it flying towards the old wizard in one move. Lifting a hand the old wizard was powerless to stop the blade flying towards him aimed straight at his heart.

With a flash of silver Harry directed the knife aside with a small cry of triumph as he rose again, but then Voldemort's true attack was unleashed. Taking his wand he pushed its tip into the wispy thread around his wrist, screaming the Killing Curse aloud a green light travelled along the strand until it flew into Dumbledore's wand and washed over the old wizard. With a small cry Dumbledore clutched at his arm and collapsed to the floor, the now green thread dissipating into nothingness leaving Voldemort cackling aloud.

'You murdering bastard!' Harry shouted, charging forwards with Godric's sword held high and his wand blazing out a Stunner he charged straight at the Dark Wizard and into his second attack. A jet blue beam shot into the ground Harry ran over sending him flying upward and crumpling to the floor at Voldemort's feet.

'Courage is nothing Harry,' he whispered as he lifted both his wand and sword over the dazed boy, 'Courage, loyalty and friendship are nothing compared to the power I hold,' then he plunged his wand and sword downwards.

Two more silver strands shot out and lifted Voldemort's arms away from Harry, 'Loyalty and friendship are everything over evil,' Ron snarled, holding one beam while Hermione held the other, both their faces grim and determined as they held his arms high. Matching their faces Voldemort strained, bringing his arms back down against the pain until they were level again, pointing back at Hermione and Ron who were now sweating with the effort of holding the threads steady along his wrists.

'NOW!' Harry shouted as Voldemort drew back his lips to curse them and he threw himself backward from Voldemort's feet as the two released the threads and dove aside, jerking Voldemort forwards. Parrying aside his blade, Harry released a Stunning Jinx at Voldemort, and as they had once before, the two spells fused together in a golden beam throwing both Harry and Voldemort backwards. 'Priori Incantatem Voldemort,' Harry said, 'Remember it? The only thing to defeat both you and Salazar my memory recalls.'

'You never defeated me Potter,' Voldemort spat as the clusters of light along the wands began to shift, backwards and forwards they dance as each wizard focused their minds, 'It was your boyish luck that saw you through, but now I can turn that luck to my advantage.' Shutting his eyes in concentration Harry felt his wand buck violently and saw the clusters were now moving firmly towards him, even with all his will bent against it he couldn't even slow them down. So he did the one thing all his instincts told him not to do, the one thing that Voldemort would never expect, ignoring his screaming conscious, Harry let go of his wand.

The result was an amazing explosion of colour and noise as Harry's wand jetted away from Voldemort, no longer held in place by Harry, and in doing so it pulled the Dark Wizard towards Harry who swung his sword into his midriff. With a hoarse scream Voldemort dropped his own wand and the two wooden brother fell to the floor. Looking down Voldemort saw the silver blade protruding from his heart, without an immortal soul he could feel his life leaking away as he stared into Harry's blazing emerald eyes.

Sneering he reached out and grabbed Harry's face in his free hand and with the other drove Salazar's sword towards Harry, with a crunch he drove it into the boy's side as he stood clutching at his face where Voldemort's hand was burning it. Strong hands grabbed him bodily and threw the Dark Wizard aside, with no ceremony the greatest evil Harry's world had known passed away, his life leaking away thanks to Godric's last legacy.

'Harry!' an anxious voice called as two strong arms lifted him from the ground, the pain in his face was excruciating, but all the time he could feel the blade biting into his side as his rescuer attempted to open his heavy eyelids. With tears streaming down his face, Sirius cradled Harry as he tried to stop the blood flowing out of the boy's wound.

All across the battlefield the fighters had stopped when the explosion of noise from Harry and Voldemort's battle had passed over them, many were thrown down due to their proximity but now many were rising again. Lucius Malfoy saw Voldemort lying dead and made his decision, turning to run he was enveloped in an electric beam as a bloodied Draco stunned him, around the castle Death Eaters fled or were captured after seeing their master fall, most of the werewolves had fled at the sound while the vampires now took to the skies again, flying away with the hawks and owls of the Death Eaters.

Standing by the trees the giants threw the last ogre back into the forest as Hagrid ran over to the main entrance where the final battle had been fought. There were two groups of people now, one around Harry and the other around Dumbledore, both were barely alive from the fight. Leaving a group of Ministry wizards who were shifting some Death Eaters in side, Severus ran over and saw Sirius holding Harry but for once knew what he could do.

Reaching into his cloak he pulled out a bottle of the Pericles Juice and walked over to Harry's side, without interruption he was aloud to pull back the bloodied shirt and exposed Harry's wound, it was not to deep but blood was freely flowing from it. Tipping the bottle carefully he let a small trickle flow into the wound provoking a small cry of pain as Harry fought against a deep unconsciousness that threatened to overwhelm him. With a small nod of satisfaction Severus slipped out of the group surrounding Harry and Sirius and moved over to Dumbledore where most of the staff had assembled, the dying Professor was held up by Remus as Severus kneeled by his side. About to pour liquid down his mouth, he halted when Dumbledore pushed the vial away.

'Not even Fawkes could save me now,' Dumbledore whispered to the assembled crowd, 'you know there is no way to prevent what is happening.' Speaking quietly he knew what was happening, inside his body he was slowly shutting down as the curse worked through him, unlike the normal attack, this was prolonged by the transfer along his wand. Even as he spoke though the crowd moved back as Hagrid, with tears flowing freely from his eyes, walked forwards with a unicorn pacing him at the same time.

The pure white creature stumbled as it neared and they saw a deep gash cutting down its neck, along the shoulder and down its back. However the grace of the magical creature had not left it, and it was able to kneel beside Dumbledore where it sat regarding him, it's soft eyes gazing into his, as if gazing into his very soul. With a whinny it began to nuzzle the wizard's face, it's soft fur brushing against his paling skin, and with an infinite slowness, the wizards and witches nearby watched a single drop of silver blood fall and land in Dumbledore's mouth.

Continuing to nuzzle the wizard, the unicorn didn't notice as Hagrid gently pushed the other Professors away until a small circle had formed around the two in the centre. A brilliant white light began to glow around Dumbledore's body and the unicorn that caused a hushed gasp around the group, the light spread softly outwards bathing everybody in a warmth that filled their spirits. Reaching a blinding intensity the people assembled shut their eyes as it increased then cut out just as suddenly as it had begun.

Sitting in the centre of the circle, Albus Dumbledore was clothed in a pure white robe that shimmered as the light moved upon it, a look of happiness mingled with confusion upon his features.

A look which faded when he saw Sirius still cradling Harry's still form.


End file.
